Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - EXPOSED: ACC's Scheduling NIGHTMARE Revealed | Can Notre Dame Save the DAY?

Starting point is 00:00:00 He's staying at eight conference games per year. But now that the SEC is going to nine, everybody else is doing nine. The ACC is having these conversations, but there is a big Notre Dame problem. You are locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Happy Friday and shout out to the everydayers. Thank you so much for making Locked on ACC your first listen. We're available free wherever you get your podcast.

Starting point is 00:00:37 We're free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandual. Football season is around the corner. Visit the Fandual app today and start planning your futures bets now. He is Kenton Gibbs, former NC State Defense of Limit and co-host of Lockdown Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono, co-host of Lockdown Caines. And on this episode, we'll take a look at Week Zero.

Starting point is 00:01:01 You got one ACC team who's on the clock for this weekend. Please don't embarrass us, Stanford. We'll take a look at what I think was kind of a shocking revelation that Darien Mensa at Duke is allegedly the highest paid quarterback in the ACC this season and what that means. But Kenton, let's take a look at this whole nine conference game conversation. Now, correct me if I'm wrong because sometimes my listening comprehension skills are not great. but, you know, we were both at the commissioners forum, a little about exactly a month ago, I think exactly a month ago in Charlotte.

Starting point is 00:01:42 And ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, didn't he strongly indicate that the ACC is pretty happy at eight conference games in football per year? But suddenly the SEC shockingly goes to nine, and apparently the ACC has to look at now nine conference games again. But it was a month ago when he basically said, we're good at eight. As much as I berate the SEC for their foolishness and nonsense and debauchery that they're always pulling, I must commend them when they've done something right. The nine conference games and the call to, hey, you have to schedule one other power for a team.

Starting point is 00:02:18 I absolutely love it. I absolutely love it. I love to see that. And if that forces the ACC's hand to do something similar, I'm not against it. I'm not against it at all. I am wholeheartedly for teams. playing more good teams. With all due respect, I don't need to see NC State against Campbell on the regular. Don't need to see that. With all the respect, I don't need to see Miami play Famu on the

Starting point is 00:02:43 regular. And again, with all due respect to Famu, and I get that, you know, for a lot of these smaller schools, those are money games where they get paid a very hefty amount. And, you know, we saw from North Carolina A&T a few years ago when they won their money game, their head coach saying And one more thing, tell them, bring me my money. And it became a huge meme because of that. I get it. But with that being said, from a fan aspect and from a financial aspect for the conferences, what gets you the best viewer results, what gets you the most eyes on your game, butts in seats,

Starting point is 00:03:20 betting money going on? Well, it is good teams playing other good teams. So I mean, you know, everything is malleable, Dono. How many times have we heard, oh, I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to do that. But then things change. The tie turns and all of a sudden, you've got to do what you said you weren't going to do. If people held to their word in terms of coaches and administrators for, well, we're not going to do this.

Starting point is 00:03:44 We're happy where we are. And then things change and they got to adjust. Clemson wouldn't have a head coach right now. Okay. So, you know, it's the reality that it's easy to say, oh, I'd never do this. I'd never participate in that. We're good where we're at. until somebody comes along and shows you, no, you're not good.

Starting point is 00:04:03 Do you need to get better where you're at? Yeah, with the SEC now, and again, this surprised me that they, you know, they're going to nine conference games. This will mean the SEC's at nine, the Big Ten has already been at nine, and the Big 12 has already been at nine. So, yeah, the ACC is going to pretty much have to fall in line here. But here's the challenge, Kenton. The ACC is currently at 17 football members.

Starting point is 00:04:29 no sign of expansion anytime soon to an even number. You know, maybe in a few years somebody leaves, but that's not happening, you know, five, six years at minimum. And with 17 full-time conference members, you mathematically cannot have all of your members playing nine conference games per year. So that's a big challenge here. And Brett McMurphy at On Three, you know, wrote about this. And he covered, you know, the ACC is discussing adding a nine,

Starting point is 00:04:59 conference game. So here is one of the potential solutions. And spoiler alert, I think this solution sucks. So the idea here is that you know, you've got the scheduling agreement with Notre Dame. They play five ACC. I think it's five ACC opponents per season. So they're not a member in football, but they do have a scheduling agreement. So what they're going to do here is for the teams that play Notre Dame, that will count as their ninth conference game in those. seasons. So the first thought that came into my mind is that's like not even really fair.

Starting point is 00:05:38 Like if being fair, even maybe in this day and age where revenue is king, fair doesn't even matter anymore. But, Notre Dame plays a disproportionate amount of games against the bigger TV draws. Like that's now part of their scheduling agreement is they play more games against Clemson, Miami, and Florida state than they do against the teams that are not as big TV draw. So that's not like a fair split. And then also, as pointed out by Brett McMurphy, the biggest drawback to this source said is that Notre Dame is already playing those ACC opponents annually.

Starting point is 00:06:13 So whether it counts as an ACC game or not is irrelevant since the ACC wouldn't be adding any new games with Notre Dame. It would not increase the league's media rights value. So this is, I mean, you'd be the only major conference that counts a non-conference game is a conference game. This is a very ACC problem that we're having right now. Absolutely. It's a very ACC problem because who does the Big Ten have that's a half member that gets to step in whenever they want to and step out whenever it's convenient for them. Who does the SEC have that's a half member? Who does the PAC 12 have that's a half member? Nobody does this half member where, oh, every sport except and really half members being very

Starting point is 00:06:53 generous because half would imply that only in half of the varsity sports that we have are they participating no Notre Dame is participating in every single sport every single sport that they have that is sponsored by the ACC they're in ACC

Starting point is 00:07:13 team except one so I you know it's it's a very ACC problem but these are the problems that you allow yourself that you allow to be placed upon you when you do these strange things to accommodate and bend the

Starting point is 00:07:31 need. I have said for the longest, the ACC needs to stop bending the knee to Notre Dame. And that's with all due respect to the brand that Notre Dame is. That's with all due reverence to Notre Dame. That's with all due reverence to touchdown Jesus. That's what all do reverence. You know, at the end of the day, you cannot have situations where certain teams get this type of preferential treatment because now you're in a serious pickle and dilemma behind that team receiving special treatment. That's right. I mean, now that they've changed the revenue formula, and yeah, I feel like we need to give ourselves some homework on like the straight up dollars and cents of what Notre Dame is making with their, I know they're making a lot with the NBC deal. But now that the ACC has the new formula with the brand initiative and the success initiative. So not only is Notre Dame a huge brand, like they have a bigger brand than any of the teams currently in the ACC. And they've had a lot of success. on the field, right? Multiple time college football playoff appearances, got to the national title game last year. So I wonder if these new initiatives might actually, there could be a scenario

Starting point is 00:08:40 where Notre Dame actually joining the football conference could become actually feasible and attractive for them because they would obviously add a ton of value. And with the initiatives and the uneven revenue splits, they could take a bigger piece of that pie. I mean, that's absolutely the case. I don't think that we have the type of money to make it worth they're wild. I don't think any conference has the money straight up and down to make it worth Notre Dame's wild because when you really get into the numbers of it, all of these other schools, you're talking full distribution across all sports more often than not when you're looking at the numbers that are distributed to each university. Notre Dame, you're normally

Starting point is 00:09:19 looking at football alone because people forget they have a separate deal that gives them a certain portion or a certain cut of the revenue from all the other sports, even though you know, most of my revenue generated for the ones that do, for the ones that are under a TV deal, they still get a cut there as well. So it's, I'm not sure, like you said, we'll do the homework. We'll do the knowledge on this. We do the knowledge that locked on ACC and we'll do the knowledge on whether or not the ACC could possibly make a feeable. I'm not sure if they can, but if they can, Jim Phillips, go up to South Bend, gas up the jet, take it from Charlotte to South Bend, Indiana, and don't leave until you've got a deal, getting them.

Starting point is 00:10:00 in the conference. But again, I'm not sure if we have the type of duckets to make that work their while. Well, when we come back, I do want to continue this conversation because the SEC going to nine conference games, will this affect rivalry games that they have out of conference, but also pretty shocking revelation. The highest paid quarterback in the ACC is not residing in Coral Gables, Florida. He is residing in Durham, North Carolina. You want to keep it locked right here. we're only getting started on this brand new episode of Lockdown ACC. I'm so excited for this. August 26th is officially FanDuel Futures Day,

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Starting point is 00:11:27 next list and make sure you check out our other shows. Kenton Gibbs and Grayson Boone talk all things NC State on Locked on Wolfpack. I talk all things Miami on Locked on Cains. All right. So Kenton, before we get into the shocking revelation of highest paid quarterbacks, now, so with the SEC going to nine conference games, and you mentioned that part, and I'm happy that Greg Sanky made this loud and clear. Like, they're adding another conference game. That doesn't mean they can start scheduling strictly a Mickey Mouse non-conference schedule. Like his demand is they have to keep scheduling competitive non-conference games against other members of the Power 4.

Starting point is 00:12:06 So is that going to preserve, you know, your Louisville's versus Kentucky's, your Clemsons versus South Carolinas, your Florida states versus Florida's? Like, are we worried about some of those big rivalry games going into Jeopardy or we think that's going to continue even in this new landscape of nine conference games? games. Oh, you're muted. I think that those are going to be protected only because this is a situation where everybody's saying the conferences are making it clear, do not play Mickey Mouse games. And if you have to play one tough game every year, you do not want to be the one school

Starting point is 00:12:43 that own robbery week does not have anybody serious to play. You do not want to be the one school that's like, actually, the Palmetto Bowl ain't worth it no more. I got to play another power 14, but not our in-state rival so that we can go in recruiting and say, hey, look what we did to your boys. Look what we're all. You want to go over there? Pick your man's up.

Starting point is 00:13:06 Pick your man's up before you decide to go over there because we offered you and we woke the wheels off them. You know, which side of this do you want to be on? That's definitely going to be a part of this. And most of the robberies are proxemics based anyway, right? So that is very much a very big part of recruiting. They're recruiting the same players. Who does Miami play Robbery Week?

Starting point is 00:13:26 Is it Florida State or is it Florida? You know, Miami doesn't have a traditional rivalry week game because they don't play Florida every year and they play, you know, Florida State is usually October and November. Ah, okay. Well, either way, either way you cut or slice it, NC State and UNC, they play every year rivalry week. They're recruiting the same players. They're recruiting the same guys and all that.

Starting point is 00:13:51 So I highly doubt that a team wants to be the one to back out of that because now people are looking at you saying, why'd you back out? What's going on over there? What's happening right now that made you say this other team that's prominent and in the area I no longer want to play them? You hear how people are talking about TCU right now after backing out of their robbery with SMU for a couple years. People are like, wait, wait a minute now.

Starting point is 00:14:16 Y'all cities are so close. They don't even call it the Dallas airport. You know what they call it? D.F. Why? What does the FW stand for? Fort Worth. Where is TCU located? Fort Worth. Hmm. Interesting things like that happen. So this is a situation where even with these games, it's a possibility that some teams would back out of their rivalries to kind of say, all right, well, not if we got the opportunity. But I highly doubt it. I highly doubt it because again, a lot of these are proximity base. A lot of these are schools where that that hatred is so long. growing. The fans would rather see that team and get whooped on and say, hey, we tap it out. We don't, we UCLA, we don't want to see USC no more. You know, I know that they're both Big Ten, but you get the point. Nobody wants to see, nobody wants to say that as a fan. All right. So I want to bring up a topic that is

Starting point is 00:15:07 near and dear to my heart. And Kenton, I say this because for the past six months, I log in to X.com and the algorithm, they tend to put like rage bait into my algorithm yours. I'm sure. sure. I log on to YouTube and I keep seeing for the past six months videos of these national college football guys having these debates. Wow, is Carson Beck worth the money? Miami's paying all this money to Carson Beck. Are they overpaying? Is he washed? Is there a reason? Why Georgia maybe didn't want him back? So I've had to endure this for the past six months. Can we start getting some of these same bozos making videos about Darien Mensa? Is Darian Mensa worth the money? Is Kenton? How about this from Pete NACOS at On3.com, who is, you know, he's usually the most reputable guy when it comes

Starting point is 00:15:58 to NIL reporting. And On 3's NIL department is they put a lot of resources into their NIL coverage. And according to Pete NACOS, Duke quarterback Darien Mensa, who I think is very good, by the way, is set to be paid $4 million for this upcoming college football season. According to NACOS, Carson Beck will be making in the three to three point two, million range. Bryce Underwood, who's got the long-term deal, but he's going to be making three million this year. Drew Aller at Penn State, three million. John Mateer at Oklahoma, you know, I don't know if this counts the Venmo's he's getting sent, but 2.5 to 3 million, and Avery Johnson, 2 million. So, and listen, Kenton, again, I'm not, I'm not saying Darian

Starting point is 00:16:42 Mensa won't be worth the investment, but you're telling me a quarterback who comes in from the group of five with really only one season of experience. compared to Carson Beck, who's got two plus full seasons as a starter and a 24 and 3 record in the SEC. Darien Mensa comes in one season off of 2,700 passing yards, 22 touchdowns, 6 interceptions, 132 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. You're telling me that guy is making maybe up to a million more than Carson Beck. Is that worth it? Well, Dono, I think you're missing key elements of why this won't be a big story.

Starting point is 00:17:19 Number one, this is Duke football we're talking about. Let's be very honest. I have told this story time and time again because it still is very relevant to where Duke is as a program. Undefeated going in the week five or six a few years ago against an undefeated Notre Dame and their stadium still was not packed out. Like that's, yeah, that's right. Anybody who knows Notre Dame knows how Notre Dame travels. They roll deep, okay? if you cannot fill out your stadium with Notre Dame fans coming in,

Starting point is 00:17:50 you are looking at a very seriously not great time. You're looking at a very seriously not great time in that regard. So the cachet is not there to make that conversation worth the squeeze. But there are two other parts of this thing. Darian Mensa is seen as a product on the rise. He's seen as a product that we don't believe, if you ask most college football fans, have we seen Derian Mensa's best football?

Starting point is 00:18:13 They say no. But if you ask most college football fans that about your boy Carson Beck, what do you think they say, Donald? Do you think they say his best football is in front of him or behind him? Behind him is what they would say. That's what most would say. Whether it's right or wrong, that's just the perception there. And then the last thing, it's a balance, right?

Starting point is 00:18:33 It's a balance of things, Donno. It's just like any other job that you would think of in terms of something where you're using that job to get you to your next level. it's multiple factors that go into it. Unless that's your final stopping place job, which a lot of these guys don't view college football as their final stopping place if you're getting paid millions in college.

Starting point is 00:18:54 So why am I saying your final stopping place is important? If you plan on going to the next level and different things on those lines, there are other factors that come in. There are other factors that come in. If you play for a championship, Stets and Bennett is still kicking around the NFL somehow. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:19:11 You see what I'm saying? That's a real thing that's happening. That's a real thing that's happening. So if you're planning on going to that next level, how much do championships matter is part of it? How much exposure do you get as part of it? And then another part of it is obviously the money. And so you've got to kind of balance those three.

Starting point is 00:19:28 What's the last time Duke put a NFL, a quarterback into the NFL that we looked at? It was like, how is he still in the lead? Daniel Jones? Before that, when's the last one? Because we can name multiple quarterbacks at Miami, who are in the league or from Miami who are in the league that we say, oh, that guy's still in the league. Well, good for him.

Starting point is 00:19:49 We can't name that from Duke. We don't have a bunch of players from Duke like that. So if you can't offer that opportunity, that exposure, that kind of name cachet where you feel like, hey, my guy, I'm going to get drafted just for being here. You've got to overcompensate somewhere else. And they filled it in with the money. And also, and like I don't, I hope people think I'm not like ripping on Duke football. I'm just ripping on the people who are giving Carson Beck a different energy than they're going to give Darien Mensa because actually, Kenton, I look at what Duke is doing in football.

Starting point is 00:20:21 And, you know, we just talked a couple days ago, you and I about more schools needing to really go all in on football, right? With maybe UNC is trying to do that with Belichick and the staff that they've just hired. And you know what? You're telling me in big 2025, we've got the Duke Blue Devils having supposedly the high. highest paid for one season, for this coming season, he's going to play multiple seasons there, but for this coming season, the highest paid quarterback in college football, say, damn, look at you, Duke. You're starting to put that energy into football, not just basketball. So I'm going to look at that and frame it in a good way. Yeah, and that's,

Starting point is 00:20:59 and at the end of the day, I fully understand the idea of why are y'all, you know, it's cool when they do it. It's a problem when we do it. Forget them, that type of energy, right? I get it. I understand that. But the reality is this, down. up. You should be happy that people are talking about Carson Beck in that way because that means that Miami has the cachet to make it worth the clicks. If you were to talk about any new football player as a nationally relevant deal, it just wouldn't generate the same amount of clicks. You talk about rage bait being on the page. Rage bait only works if it's something that you care enough about to gain rage. Most people, with all due respect, the richest quarterback in football

Starting point is 00:21:37 is going to be playing literally less than 10 minutes away from McDougal Terrace. For those of you who know, you know in the city of Durham. It is not a great place. Not a great place, Donald. So, you know, it's just in terms of certain statistics. The residents there are wonderful with all due respect to them. No disrespect to the residents. No disrespect to that community.

Starting point is 00:21:59 I'm just saying when you look at statistics of how much folks make and crime and all that is a little bit of a disdial. Now, with that being said, Again, it's just not seen as in that same light, but you're absolutely right in that this is the price of being a champion now. It takes what it takes. It costs what it costs. I told everybody last year during the playoffs, if Ohio State wins the national championship, every high school player should be dancing in the streets. And I meant it.

Starting point is 00:22:27 You know why? Because Ohio State was not known as the, we grid and grinded this thing out and we built it brick by brick. And, you know, we got a bunch of downhome boys from. You know, Kenley, Ohio and Kenton, Ohio is a real city, by the way. That's a real city? Yeah, you should live there. Hey, absolutely not. You couldn't pay me enough to live in Ohio.

Starting point is 00:22:47 Actually, $4 million. You give me some day and mental money. I might live there. But we've got all these homegrown guys from Youngstown and whatnot, and they play for nothing. They play for the love of the game. If that was the case, I would have said, yikes, this is tough. But what was Ohio State known as last year, Donno? What was this talk about?

Starting point is 00:23:04 The $20-plus million roster is what they were known for. for. So now we know it takes what it takes. If your roster is going to be 20 million and you have a quarterback that's worth it, look at NFL salary caps and how much the best quarterbacks are taking up in the NFL, right? So you've got to come to college and see a similar thing working, maybe even to a higher degree where they're getting a larger chunk because you don't have collective bargaining. You don't have salary minimums and whatnot. So, you know, it's not a surprise to see this. But again, like what you were saying, this is the process. of a champion. This is not any hate from you or from me to Darien Mensa or to Carson Beck.

Starting point is 00:23:43 We are not hating on either one of those guys. We're simply saying this is the new cost of doing business in terms of ACC football. One million percent. I look at both Miami with what they're reportedly paying for Carson Beck and Duke with what they're reportedly paying for Darian Mensa as the cost of upgrading your quarterback position in Big 2025. That's what I look at it as. The cost of being competitive, the cost of giving yourself an opportunity, whether it's an opportunity to win the ACC or to get to the college football playoff and make a run. All right. So let's take a look at week zero. When we come back, hopefully Stanford can make the ACC one and oh in non-con play to start the season. You want to keep it locked right here. We're not done yet on locked on ACC.

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Starting point is 00:25:29 Individual results may vary with prescription treatment. Compounded drugs are permitted to be prescribed under federal law. but are not FDA approved and do not undergo FDA safety effectiveness or manufacturing review. Please visit the Ruggiet website for full safety information. Thank you for making Locked on ACC your first listen. All right. So Kent and Gibbs, we're looking at just one week zero ACC. Well, ACC involved game.

Starting point is 00:25:56 It's going to be, I will be watching this on Saturday night tomorrow night. Stanford on the road at Hawaii. that's going to be a 730 p.m. Eastern time kickoff. Hawaii is favored by two and a half points. So if Stanford can't win this game, probably not a good sign for the ACC schedule coming up. So let's go Cardinal. You know, I am not saying this because, again,

Starting point is 00:26:21 the CEO of the new company I'm working at is a Stanford grad. But go Cardinal. I believe in you all. No, but seriously, this is a very interesting, week zero matchup, not from the standpoint of this has a lot of national relevance or national intrigue. But in the same vein as everybody's saying, oh, I want to see what the Bill Belichick experiment looks like. I kind of had the same thing for Frank Reich, because that experiment is much more, it's much more stable. It's not supposed to be long term. But how do you coach? What do you even

Starting point is 00:26:55 do when you have a situation where it's like, hey, I'm not recruiting, not going to be here long term. completing the coach and search while I'm here. But while I'm here, I'll do the best that I can and I'll get this team look at the best I can. What does that look like? How do you get guys motivated to go and do what they have to do when they know, hey, I know for a fact, this coach is leaving? You know, maybe I can play well this year and go make NIO elsewhere.

Starting point is 00:27:22 But if that's the case, I'm not playing for the team. So it's a lot of interesting dynamics going on at Stanford. And I kind of want to see what the end result looks like, especially against the team that on paper is a level beneath you per se. Yeah. Right. Like Hawaii is not a top tier group of 16 now because the PAC 12 is now the six, but it's not a top tier group of 16 even.

Starting point is 00:27:47 So I'm very intrigued to see what they look like in this week zero matchup. So the other week zero games, you know, usually the best week zero game of the year is the one that they do in Ireland. That's certainly the case again this year. The one last year had a lot more meaning to us because it was Florida State, Georgia Tech, with Georgia Tech pulling off what we thought at the time was a big upset. Turned out it was in hindsight it was not an upset at all. But we thought that was a big upset. So this year in Dublin, you've got 22nd ranked Iowa State taking on 17th ranked Kansas States.

Starting point is 00:28:20 That's a ranked matchup. I mean, it doesn't tickle my fancy the same way, Big 12 matchups. It's a ranked matchup. The other games, Kenton, involving FBS. teams on Saturday week zero. Idaho State at UNLV, Fresno State at Kansas, and Sam Houston at Western Kentucky along with the Stanford Hawaii games. So I mean, any, I guess the ranked matchup, but any of those other games, tickle your fancy little, little UNLV action you're looking forward to anything there. Kansas State, Kansas State and Iowa State for obvious reasons gives that

Starting point is 00:28:57 that kind of, hey, this is a big time game that will have some potentially national implications going forward. But also because Kansas State and NC State, you know, we're not twins, but we cousins. You know what I mean? It's that type of relationship where, you know, even in the bowl game, it was like the inaugural Pop-Tarts Bowl, it was a great vibe and camaraderie all around in terms of we want to win this game, but we don't have anything bad to say about Kansas State. And Kansas State was like, we want to win this game, but we don't have anything bad to say about NC State. State. We'll see how this thing shakes out.

Starting point is 00:29:29 So I'm very intrigued there. And Iowa State with Matt Campbell. I mean, people were ready to write him off. People were ready to say, all right, that's it. This Matt Campbell thing is done. He needs to go back to Toledo. Go to the Glasgow. You don't belong at the power four level anymore. And he said, oh, really? Watch this. And he's built something very special in Ames.

Starting point is 00:29:50 So it'll be interesting to see how game one goes when you're on a national stage. You can't run. you can't hide. Both of these teams kind of go under the radar if they have a bad year, nobody really notices because it's like, oh, yeah, who's thinking about Kansas State? Same thing with Iowa State. But you're on Front Street. What's your got? Let's see it. Yeah, that's going to be big. Well, we appreciate everyone for making Locked on ACC your first listen. Make sure you check out our other shows. Kenton does an awesome job on Locked on Wolfpack and follow him on X at TGIF underscore Kenton. I host Locked on Caines. You can follow me on X at

Starting point is 00:30:24 Alex Dono. And we'll talk to everyone next time on another episode of Lockdown ACC. We are part of the awesome Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day.

Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - EXPOSED: ACC's Scheduling NIGHTMARE Revealed | Can Notre Dame Save the DAY?

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