Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - FIASCO: Michigan Opens After Sherrone Moore’s Firing—Which ACC Coach Will SHOCK the Carousel?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Scandal rocks the college football coaching carousel. With the fiasco in Ann Arbor, Michigan, there could be an ACC domino effect. You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Shout out to the Everydayers,

Starting point is 00:00:29 and thank you so much for making Locked on ACC your first listen. We're available wherever you get your podcast. We're on YouTube. We're part of the number one. Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. He is Kenton Gibbs, former NC State Defense of Limon and co-host of Lockdown Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono, host of Lockdown Keynes, and today's episode is brought to you by Fanduel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanduel.com and place your NFL

Starting point is 00:00:53 live bets all season long. On this loaded episode, we'll talk about what the ACC Commissioner is saying about tiebreakers, because obviously the tiebreakers are broken if Duke gets to win here. ACC and what the future of the college football playoff format is going to look like. We'll talk about allegedly schools are now freezing out Notre Dame. Oh, they've been a big topic this week. But I think there's a lot of folks in South Bend who are probably thankful that they're out of the news cycle now, Kenton. And this is a pretty awful story in Ann Arbor.

Starting point is 00:01:33 So Sharon Moore, head coach of the Michigan Wolverines, was fired with cause on Wednesday after an investigation revealed and confirmed an inappropriate relationship with a staffer. Now, the events that went about yesterday when he was fired again with cause by athletic director Ward Manuel also led to an incident where Sharon Moore was arrested. You know, a lot of details on that have been speculated on, but there is concern that he, you know, might have been at that point in time looking to harm himself and others. So it's a pretty awful, awful story. And Kenton, this now leads to one of the biggest jobs in college football being open. You know what's crazy. And now that it's official, I can say this. And Dono can't confirm months ago, I said, hey, that Michigan seat, it's.

Starting point is 00:02:33 some things going on up there that it's it's hotter than we all recognize and i i couldn't exactly talk about it at the time because it would have revealed some very close sources to the story but in all seriousness i i say that to say coach dorin when i played frenzy state had a thing called the thank you box and the thank you box was filled with press clippings or filled with online articles from other schools or other players who had done just ridiculous things just ridiculous just ridiculously terrible things or even small things that cost their team in a major way. And he'd say, thank you, insert player name here, insert school name here, for showing us we can't do this. Michigan had a very similar example.

Starting point is 00:03:18 Cheryl Moore had a very similar example right up the street, right at East Lansing. Yeah. He just saw it. This isn't like, Mel Tucker wasn't 10 years ago to where it's like, huh? Yeah, it was like two years ago. two years ago. And it does not click, hmm, I'm at work.

Starting point is 00:03:39 Let's be professional here. So it's a really unfortunate situation there. But in terms of impact on the ACC, because I do have some, you know, I've been doing some back channeling ever since this came out and whatnot, I can say this. If there is to be an impact on the ACC, it'll be a downriver effect.

Starting point is 00:03:58 It'll be a cascading effect of this person goes here, then this person goes here. and this person wants this person to come with him type of deal, as opposed to expected ACC coach to fill that role in Ann Arbor. All that I know, there is, you know, there's a lot of speculation around De Boer and all that. There's a lot of chatter about it. It is not 100% confirmed yet.

Starting point is 00:04:23 But what I do know is there is basically a snowball's chance in the hottest wing of hell that one of the ACs, coaches end up at that job. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, looking at like on three sports put out a hot board of Michigan candidates. And yet, you're right, there's not a single current ACC coach on the hot board that like you said, one of these people leaves their current job to go to Michigan. Does an ACC coach replace that person or does an ACC coach replace the person who replaces that person? So, you know, the hot board, obviously everybody's hotboard for Michigan, and he can deny it. He has reason to deny it because he's coaching a team that's in the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:05:08 But Kalin DeBoer at Alabama is number one on everybody's hot board. And obviously, I think he'd be a great fit there in the Midwest. You know, maybe he does turn it down because he's got a pretty good job right now. But that name's going to be out there. This one has been denied, but they've put Brian Kelly on the hot board. apparently he's not really in for it, but, you know, his name's going to get thrown out there. Lincoln, Riley at USC, Jesse Minter, who's the L.A. Chargers defensive coordinator, Coach Drink, Eli Drinkwitz at Missouri, whose name has been linked to like every hope a job this cycle.

Starting point is 00:05:45 Jed Fish at Washington, Clark Lee, currently at Vanderbilt, Kenny Dillingham at Arizona State, Tommy Reese, who's the Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator, and Willie Fritz from Hewold. Houston. So out of those names, do you think DeBoer, in your mind, is that the most likely, or is there anyone else you think could end up there? Debor is, from what I've heard, the one that the strongest push is being made for. However, I do have a name in mind in the ACC that a part of that cascading effect, this guy could be offered an offensive coordinator job at a much, much bigger job. A name that I keep hearing circulating, as he may need it.

Starting point is 00:06:27 he originally I was told he may need another year in the incubator before people start contacting him to now it's possible if things shake the right way. Kay Bell at Pitt, that's a name that a lot of folks are excited about. A lot of folks are excited about him. And I've been to Kay Bell guy for quite some time now. And to see his name kind of floating around some of these conversations is pretty interesting.

Starting point is 00:06:50 But again, cascading effect. Don't don't expect Kay to get one of those big jobs in terms of head coach right now. That's not what's going to happen with Coach Bell, but he is a name that I've heard. I'm not sure if anybody's reached out. I'm not sure if there's been, you know, the formal interviews done or anything like that. Because, again, cascading effect.

Starting point is 00:07:10 This is, teams are looking around saying, okay, well, what happens if Michigan does this or does that and who goes where, that type of deal. But in all seriousness, there are, he's not the only one. There are some other names in the ACC that could be on the move as coordinators. But again, this search is not really. The biggest thing I would say the ACPC needs to take from this, leave them staffers alone, okay?

Starting point is 00:07:36 Leave them alone. Go home to that lady that you took vows before God with. Okay? Go home and do that. And I'm going to throw in one more thing here. Please, please, please. And I'm begging you, understand who. and where you are in the world.

Starting point is 00:07:57 Both of those coaches were underperforming in terms of Tucker and more for their university standards when they got canned. Okay. Blaine Kiven, they can make jokes about, oh, yeah, he was leaving yoga with coeds and whatnot. Lane Kippen took Ole Miss the places they never been before. That's right. All right.

Starting point is 00:08:14 If Michigan was looking like the Field and Yost point of minute teams from back in the early 1900s, then sure. People would, oh, yeah, do whatever you want to do. We don't really care. but the reality is you're doing terrible things combined with a losing product oh brother they they they geeked up geeked up to get rid of you without having to pay your extra 25 million dollars they are excited about i can use 25 million more dollars in my life i don't know about don't take it i can use it i you know what i mean it you know i know i know the cam newton and obj

Starting point is 00:08:50 are saying that a hundred million and two hundred million ain't a lot give me the 25 i figured out I think I'll be okay. But in all seriousness, this is a moment where this coaching search is going to be a very short one. We will not see a Penn State type of situation here. And again, I don't think we'll see an ACC coach be directly tied to the Michigan job or as a coordinator for Michigan. But again, whoever goes there got to come from somewhere. Yeah. Yeah, right.

Starting point is 00:09:21 Yeah, 100%. Well, when we come back, I think. think we're going to get a apparently an overdue change to the ACC's conference tiebreaker format. But honestly, the fact that the ACC commish was naive enough to think that the seventh tiebreaker could never be triggered is troubling in itself. You want to keep it locked right here. We're only getting started on this brand new episode of LockdowneCC. Friends, the holidays are officially here, which means gift hunting season is on.

Starting point is 00:09:53 And if you want something meaningful, personal, and guaranteed to get a reaction, Aura frames is the gift that delivers every time because it's not just something you wrap. It's a way to share memories because Aura isn't your average picture frame. You could preload the frame with photos before gifting it. So when they plug it in, the memories are already there. No apps to figure out. No setup headaches. Just instant smiles.

Starting point is 00:10:16 Folks, this is a perfect gift for your spouse, for your parents, for grandparents, any newlyweds in your life, anyone who loves photos, you get endless uploads of pictures and 30-second videos also through the Aura app and a personalized message right inside the frame so the gift feels thoughtful the moment it's opened. Guys, it's a holiday gift that actually gets used, not forgotten in some drawer. For a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting AuraFrames.com to get 35% off Aura's best-selling Carvermat frames, named number one by wirecutter by using promo code college at checkout. That's A-U-R-A-Framed. com promo code college.

Starting point is 00:10:54 This deal is exclusive to listeners and frames sellout fast, so order yours now to get it in time for the holidays and support Locked on ACC by mentioning us to check out. Terms and conditions apply. You already live your team every day. Now take it up a level and go ad free. Join the Every Day or Club and get locked on ACC with no interruptions. Members only Discord access, all for just $5 a month or $50 a year. go to locked on acc.com or check out the link in the show description below to learn more. Alex Dono alongside Kenton Gibbs.

Starting point is 00:11:31 All right. So, you know, Kenton, you know, Jim Phillips, the ACC commissioner, has obviously acknowledged that they need to revisit the conference tiebreaker format. And he made a little like tongue-in-cheek remark, like who would have ever thought we would get to the seventh tiebreaker? But first of all, if you have seven. eight, 10 rounds of tiebreakers listed in your criteria, you have that many rounds in for a reason. You figure, hey, it might get to the seventh round of tiebreakers, especially with the size of the conference, 17 teams in your football conference, many of which do not play each other. In the case of this five-way tie, most of those teams did not have head to heads against the majority of the

Starting point is 00:12:15 teams that they were tied with. This is something they should have had a contingency plan. for before it came up, not just after? This is simple. The same way I said, hey, Marcus Freeman was derelict in his duties for not being prepared to talk to Notre Dame. Same thing here with Phillips. You are derelicting your duties,

Starting point is 00:12:35 not preparing for these contingencies, not preparing for this. The tiebreaker should have been simple. Here's what it should have been. Point Blay period. Winning percentage of the teams you beat. There. There you go.

Starting point is 00:12:48 And if the winning percentage of the team, you beat are identical, then who won the head-to-head matchup. Okay, the winning percentages are identical. All right, let's get in the conference with percentage of the teams that you play now. If those are identical, let's go ahead and keep looking, keep finding ways to make it about who you beat. I don't just want to talk about who you play, who you beat. And if we get down to the lowest rung and everything else aligns, okay, fine.

Starting point is 00:13:14 We'll talk about who you play instead of who you beat. But I wanted to start there. of all of the two lost teams. The only one that did not have a win over another two lost team was Duke. So their total cover, and this is no disrespect

Starting point is 00:13:35 to Duke. Duke, you won an ACC championship in football, Baron Square. Duke has won. Duke has done something that Miami has not done, that NC State has not done. They have won an ACC. championship game. So I am not disrespect you.

Starting point is 00:13:52 As much as I wish that the fans showed up more, it does not matter. Y'all put the ball down and you did what you're supposed to do. Duke, this ain't on you. This is instead on the commissioner for having a situation. Oh, you're muted. The Duke lobby was coming for me. The Duke lobby tried to get me.

Starting point is 00:14:12 Eddie Diaz is behind the scenes. Yeah, I know. They messing with my Wi-Fi. It's been bad for a couple of weeks, but bear with me, ACC fans. Who, the reality of this thing is very simple. You have to create a tiebreaker that incentivizes winning good games against good teams. And that's no disrespect to Duke saying, oh, you beat nobody's.

Starting point is 00:14:34 But everybody else in front of you had beaten one of those teams that was also in contention. And they got a bump from simply playing those teams, even if they lost every one of those games, which to me is a little bit nonsensical. You know, I don't hate your idea. I think you're going to hate mine. In fact, I know you're going to hate mine because this would this would leave a tiebreaker into the hands of the subjectivity of the college football playoff committee. But I've given this, and I'm not just saying this because it would have benefited Miami. And thankfully, Miami was able to get in as an at large anyway.

Starting point is 00:15:11 But hear me out, Kenton. I know that, and part of me doesn't like this either. And I know you don't like giving like a five-way tiebreaker to the team that has the highest college football. playoff ranking, but it's logical for this simple reason. Your number one goal, if you're the ACC, especially if you're the ACC, because you don't get the sort of favorable treatment that the SEC or even the Big Ten get, your number one goal should be putting teams in your conference championship game, having a conference champion emerge who has the best chance of getting into the college football playoff, and for as flawed as the

Starting point is 00:15:49 subjective process is of the CFB committee ranking teams. I think if the goal is to be in the best position to make sure your champion and even your runner up gets into the college football playoff for that reason only. And part of me feels dirty for saying this. But for that reason, with getting teams into the playoff being the end goal, I think using college football playoff rankings as a tiebreaker, it makes sense because that to me is the end goal is to get as many teams in as possible because ideally again you want to get your champion and your runner up in.

Starting point is 00:16:25 I hear you, Dono. And here's the thing. Every plan comes with pros and cons, right? The pro of taking the wins and losses and who you beat, that may not factor in that you may have missed your star quarterback or you may have had a situation where something serious happened in one or two games that are vitally important. And to that, I would say, with them's the breaks. You got to move on.

Starting point is 00:16:49 You know, we don't really get to ifs and bust this thing. It just is what it is. That's a common of it, but the pro of it is, everybody has an equal shot. With your idea, the pro of it is, which I'm pretty sure the ACC is going to go with, because the pro of yours is the pro of money. You are going to get more teams in. You're going to get more teams in. And me personally, I don't give it to them about, you put the ball.

Starting point is 00:17:15 down and whatever happens happens. But your solution does get more teams in. That's just a pro of it. The con, however, is you and I both know it's not only right to subjectivity. Brand bias will run rapid. If you are not a Clemson, a Miami, a Florida State, you are going to struggle to get ahead in these rankings ahead of teams that objectively you have been better than, that you may have beaten, that you may have like very clearly the objective body of.

Starting point is 00:17:45 you put out is better, but well, hold on now, because the CFP, while we pretend that it's completely untethered to the metrics that the CFP uses are based upon what? The AP and the coaches poll. We just saw this year that the Associated Press don't know what the hell they're doing, and they're saying, my vote doesn't matter. We saw that. We saw it down to our eyes. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:18:15 So if that is the case, right, what does, what chance does a Wake Forest stand if they put together a fantastic body of work? People talk about, you know, all these teams that it's a travesty that the ACC, you know, all our top teams just don't have a lot of rank wins. When Wake Force was rolling at their best clip, you can't tell me that's not one of the best 25 teams in the nation. When SMU was rolling at their best clip this year, you can't tell me they're not one of the best 25 teams in the nation. And I get it. Their best clip is not all that there is for them, sure, but we take that from other teams and other conferences. Why? Because the Associated Press says, well, this team's in this conference. Therefore, you know, they must, and even beyond this team's in this conference, this brand has existed. Well, you know, they may not have won a championship since T. Martin was there, but they do play in a good conference and they do play good football, right? You know, it's just for me personally, I all. always look at these things and I say at the end of the day, when we do it based on rankings or based on how these rankings shake out, the metrics shaped the rankings and the rankings shape the metrics.

Starting point is 00:19:27 So it's a symbiotic relationship of, you know, hey, I do, I'm just going to, you know, we're a top rank. Well, why are you the top rank? Because we beat the most ranked teams, but why are those teams ranked? Because they were supposed to be good, but what if they're not good? Well, then they're going to lose their ranking. but didn't they just give those other teams a rank win? Well, yes, because they were supposed to be good.

Starting point is 00:19:47 And the circle starts all over again, and you just keep going in perpetuity. So that is the problem with that plan, but your plan gives the ACC the most money. So that's the plan that the ACC is going to say, fairness, hmm, fairness, okay, I hear you. But what if we get another F word, funding? Ah?

Starting point is 00:20:07 Yeah. What if we give another F word, fiscal responsibility? Ah, come on now. Forget all that fair stuff. We're in America. It's not about what's fair. It's about what's funded, baby. And your plan would put more funding in the ACC.

Starting point is 00:20:21 Yeah, I mean, actually, I prefer the logic behind your plan. I really do. I just think that my plan is what they're going to go with. Now, all of a sudden, after some friction with Notre Dame, Jim Phillips, the ACC Commission, is very much in favor of a 16-team college football playoff. And also, you've heard about that memorandum of understanding that Notre Dame has with the college football playoff that's starting next year, if they're ranked 11 or 12, they're going to knock a team ranked higher than them out of the at-large. Other schools apparently don't like

Starting point is 00:21:00 this very much. We'll talk about it. You want to keep it locked right here on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. NFL Sundays move fast. One big play, and suddenly everything feels different. That's what makes live betting with Fandual so exciting because you're not just watching the game, you're reacting to it in real time. With Fandual, you can place bets as the action unfolds. Every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight real moment.

Starting point is 00:21:26 Live betting is when the game starts to shift. That's when it's best. A receiver gets hot, a defense tightens up, or the momentum flips after a turnover. Fan Duel lets you jump right into that moment. Live spreads and money lines adjust instantly. player props update as guys heat up you can bet next touchdown scores drive results totals and so much more he keeps you locked into every snap every drive every possibility so if you want to be right in the

Starting point is 00:21:51 middle of the action this season visit fenduel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long fan duel the game moves fast and so can you thank you for making locked on acc your first listen for your next listen make sure you check out our other shows kenton gibbs and grace and boone hosts locked on wolfpack talking all things NC State. I talk all things Miami on Locked on Cains. All right. So the ACC commissioner, Jim Phillips, he's now very much in favor. And to be fair, I'm not sure what his stance was prior to this. So he may have already been in favor of 16 teams. I don't want to speak out a turn on this one. But he was quoted this week saying, hey, there's such heartache at the cut line right now, he said. And what I would say is my barometer about what's enough and what's not enough is if you're leaving teams out of the playoff that could win a national championship, then you don't have the right number, he said.

Starting point is 00:22:47 We experienced it two seasons ago with Florida State, the only undefeated team not to make the playoff at 13 and 0. And that's when it was at 4, he said. So Jim Phillips is in favor now of 16, Kenton. Do you think this was kind of a direct response to all the Notre Dame friction? Or do you think this is unrelated to that? Because I think it's a response to that. I don't know, and I will say this. If it is a response to Notre Dame friction, this is soft.

Starting point is 00:23:16 This is incredibly soft. This is the type of soft that I couldn't use as tissue paper because this is just unbelievably, inconceivably soft, if this is that. Now, with that being said, if this is not that, And Jim Phillips genuinely believes this, fine. I'm sure we're letting in however many teams you believe, but where does the cutoff end?

Starting point is 00:23:43 Where does the cutoff in? That would be my simple question. Okay, sure, we're leaving our teams that can win. Okay, great. Where do we stop? Where do we say, okay, this team officially does not have a chance? Do we say it's the top 25? Do we say it's the top 30?

Starting point is 00:24:00 What do we say? Where do we go to say this team could not feasibly win a national championship. Do you say, well, it's 16? Because here's the thing. The amount of teams that can actually win the national championship fluctuates from year to year. It really and truly does.

Starting point is 00:24:16 Some years, you're going to have eight, nine, ten teams where you're like, hey, nobody has shown themselves above the rest, and that's just it. Other years, you're going to have three to four teams that you're like, these three to four are on a collision course. Barring something serious happening, these three to four will be your final four. and this Final Four will produce the champion. Point blank period. Unless one of those four has to run into each other before the final four,

Starting point is 00:24:41 you're going to see one of these four merge as your champion. Do you shrink the playoff for those years? I don't like expanding the playoff on the premise of when we're leaving out somebody that can win it because a year from now, two years from now, and again, this is me using that brain that does not get paid seven figures, but anticipating for the future here,

Starting point is 00:25:01 we're seeing now teams get left out because you lost head to head to a certain team and all that good stuff. What about in the future when we say, well, this team looked like a completely different team when they had their starting quarterback and they missed them for two to three games. When he played, they're undefeated. They average 40 points a game. When he didn't play, they're one and two and, you know, they average 25 a game. Oh, well, they could feasibly win it all because he's healthy again. Okay, great, but they lost two very bad teams and don't have that impressive of a win on their resume. How far does this rabbit hole go would be my only question?

Starting point is 00:25:42 Yeah, I mean, something, you know, I, again, this is something that I don't like to say it out loud. But if you're talking about leaving teams out that could win national championships, I mean, do you think there's going to be support from Power 4 commissioners to kind of revisit the auto bid situation that you give auto bids to the, the five highest ranked conference champions, which guarantees at least one G5 team gets in, because I don't think either Tulane or JMU has a snowball's chance in hell of winning a championship. Like you're leaving Notre Dame and BYU and Vandy and Texas,

Starting point is 00:26:22 whoever you want to talk about. Like you're leaving them out of the equation because you're guaranteeing spots to teams that are just less equipped to win a title. Well, here's the thing. I'm a big believer and you should never take away an entire group that is that largest opportunity. It's not like you're saying each conference champion will be in because then I could somewhat see where you're coming from, right? Like if we had to throw in Western Michigan, shout out to them for winning a Mac championship. If we had to throw them in, it's like, hold on.

Starting point is 00:26:56 Whoa there, buddy. We all know this team, there's some things that they're going to struggle with. but you're talking about the top team and the group of five slash group of six however you want to quantify it that makes up for damn near 70 teams I believe more than that now I don't like why will we not say

Starting point is 00:27:18 that the best of this 70 deserves A shot I have long believed it's about what you do when you line it up and I did not like the way that UCF was done a few years ago where they were beating everybody by 20-some odd points to gain. Their average margin of victory, I believe, was 23 or 24. And people were like, oh, they get dominated by a team out of the SEC. They get dominated by a team out of the Big Ten, ACC, the Big 12, Pac-12. It does not matter what would happen. Line it up, put the ball down,

Starting point is 00:27:47 give them a shot. I don't mind giving one out of 70, the top one out of 70 a shot. I really don't see a problem with that. So with that said, like in that case, I think I am in favor of expanding it because, like, again, like you are, you are excluding teams that are better equipped to win a title in favor of giving these teams a shot. So I think if you expand it, you get both of those things. And obviously, like you said, like if you expand it to 16, then 17, 18 are upset. I get that. But, you know, again, like you're leaving multiple teams out that are, have a better chance.

Starting point is 00:28:27 And again, who am I to say that? But I strongly believe it that Notre Dame. would have a better chance to win a national title than JMU, right? So maybe I am okay with expanding it. I'm not against expansion either. I'm not against expansion. What I am against is the idea that, hey, we don't believe that this team would have a good chance of winning it

Starting point is 00:28:50 without the proper data points to back that up. If we are talking about, hey, we know that Texas would have a better shot at winning it than this other team. And again, if we're talking about just this year, I will a thousand percent concede that no group of five teams has been that dominant throughout the year, then I would say the data points indicate, or we do not have enough data points to say they can or cannot get this done. This year, I would not say that. But in years where you have an exceptional group of five teams that I would harken back to those Boise State teams with Kellan Moore,

Starting point is 00:29:27 that I would look back at those UCF teams that were undefeated for. for what was it, like 20-something straight games of all winning. And even when they played an SEC team in a bowl game, they won, and the excuse was, well, that team had a lot of opt-outs. And Florida State didn't get that benefit for having way more opt-outs than Georgia in their too deep. Nobody said, hey, Florida State did not be dominated because they had more opt-outs in their two-deep.

Starting point is 00:29:56 People said they won that game by 60 points, and that's all there is to it. So at the end of the day, I look at this and I say, I don't mind expansion. I don't mind it at all. I just, I, to me, it's more so about the reasoning than anything else. If this is always how Jim Phillips is felt, I'm fine with that. But don't you sit up here and say, I've, I wanted to make special concession for those special little boys and girls in the golden helmets.

Starting point is 00:30:22 You know, they've got touchdown Jesus on their side. And, you know, America may not be number one in many things, but we're, still number one in the amount of humans that believe in angels. And therefore, we must give a validity to that metric and touch down Jesus. And therefore, they need to get in. That to me is not. I don't support that. I'm one of those people that even if we reach the same conclusion, if we reach it based upon very different things, one of which being extremely flawed, I'm going to call that out. So if you want to expand, I'm fine with that. And I know that expansion is a Pandora's box that once you expand, you can't then retract how big the playoffs is. Sure. But at the end of

Starting point is 00:31:04 the day, know that you are expanding for the right reasons. To me, I don't think we need to go beyond 16 period. I think once you get to 16, that's it. That's all. Too bad, so damn sad. I'm sorry. I'm not here for 17 and 18. I don't give it a damn. I don't give it a because 17 and 18 most years are going to have how many losses? Three, four? Yeah. Some are might be more. Get out of here. Get out of here. Go somewhere. Well, last thing, when you talk about Notre Dame and preferential treatment, they are going to be getting preferential treatment starting next year. Now, this is, I don't think this is a legally binding contract yet,

Starting point is 00:31:43 but it's a memorandum of understanding. And according to Yahoo Sports, after learning of this MOU for Notre Dame that will grant the Irish preferential playoff access starting next year, which means if they're number 11 or number 12, they will get an at-large bid automatically, right? In the current form, you need to be 1 through 10 to get an auto bid. Athletic directors in other schools are threatening to freeze Notre Dame out of future schedules per Dan Wolkin. And listen, I feel like that may be an idle threat, Kenton, because again, like, you know, Notre Dame, they come to your stadium.

Starting point is 00:32:23 It's glamorous. It helps you make more money. but man, I hope that that threat is true because, I mean, if they're forced to play a bunch of G5s and Armed Forces Academies because no one else will schedule them, that's one way to force them to join a conference, right? Again, I don't understand why these boys and girls think they're so special

Starting point is 00:32:46 and so unique and so individual that like, hey, we can do our own thing and you will make special rules to accommodate us. Like I said yesterday, and Sean, I tell people all the time. I'm going to tell you how I feel about you to your face. And I'll tell you how I feel about you whenever you can, within ear, shout out me because I don't have no problem telling everybody this.

Starting point is 00:33:05 The reality is everybody keeps saying, why does Notre Dame have all this power to be in the room and be a part of all these conversations? They're one of the biggest brands in football and they're one of the only big brands that is independent. That's just a fact. They don't have a conference that they're tied to. Therefore, they're in a unique situation. That uniqueness requires them to be.

Starting point is 00:33:25 in those rooms to get seats at the table sometimes. So with that in mind, I look at this and I say, if that memorandum of understanding becomes a bind, legally binding contract, because again, a memorandum of understanding is what the, I can't remember what the name of it was,

Starting point is 00:33:43 but the thing between the Big Ten and the Pac-12 or whatever, the alliance, or something like that. Yeah, that was a memorandum of understanding. Hey, quick question, Dono. What conference was organizing? at the time that the alliance was formed? The PAC 12.

Starting point is 00:34:01 What about Washington? Pac 12. USC, UCLA. What conference were they in? Pack, PAC, PAC. Okay, so all of them were in a PAC-12. A memorandum of agreement or understanding was discussed and talked about that there was a partnership.

Starting point is 00:34:19 Where are all those teams now? Because the partnership was with the Big Ten. So surely the Big Ten wouldn't absorb those teams. They swooped them right up. They're all in the Big Ten now. All right. So with that in mind, I believe that this memorandum of understanding, it's cute, it's fine, it's good. I don't care who your lawyers are or what they say or do.

Starting point is 00:34:38 A legally bonded contract is legally bonded contract. A non-legally bounding contract, a memorandum of agreement is just that. It's just two people shaking hands saying maybe when it should happen. We intend to do this at some point in time, which could be easily broken. and I think it's so interesting how that memorandum of understanding was signed a year ago or was like actually created a year ago. And it's just being discussed now. Don't you think that's interesting timing?

Starting point is 00:35:05 Seems like they were trying to sweep it under the rug. Yeah. I'm going to tell you something now. Notre Dame has their worst PR moment in maybe the history of the school. And all of a sudden, everybody in their mom is like, hey, what's going on with this memorandum? That's not really a contract. at interesting, very interesting, Tommy. We appreciate everybody making Lockdown ACC your first list.

Starting point is 00:35:31 Make sure you check out Kenton on X at TGIF underscore Kenton and on Lockedon Wolfpack. Check me out at Alex Dono and on Locked on Cains. And we'll talk to you next time on another episode of Locked on ACC. We are part of the number one Locked on Podcast Network. And by the way, make sure you guys check out the new Everydayer Club, Locked-onACC.com. Unlock exclusive content, add-free shows. We'll talk to you next time right here on the number one

Starting point is 00:36:00 lockdown podcast network, your team every day.

Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - FIASCO: Michigan Opens After Sherrone Moore’s Firing—Which ACC Coach Will SHOCK the Carousel?

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.