Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - NOTRE DAME BACKLASH: ACC ADs DEFEND Irish, IGNITE Heated Debate Over "One-Sided" Deal

Starting point is 00:00:00 You remember those quotes from anonymous ACC athletic directors, just trashing Notre Dame? Well, now there are other anonymous ACC ADs who love the Irish. You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. He's Kenton Gibbs from Lockedon Wolfpack. I'm Alex Dono from Lockdown Cainz and on this episode of Lockdown ACC. There is no announced

Starting point is 00:00:40 tiebreaker format yet for ACC football for that conference championship game where they had to go to the seventh tiebreaker last year. So no announcement yet, but we found out the reason why this is being slow played and I think there's a good reason why

Starting point is 00:00:56 we're not going to know until closer to the football season. Could football programs in the ACC do what, Duke basketball has just done cutting a rights deal for Amazon Prime for non-conference games streaming. Could this be a revenue source for some of the big football programs in the conference? But Kenton, we'll start with a good old-fashioned quote war, okay? Right.

Starting point is 00:01:20 So I'm not doubting the reporting that Brent McMurphy did Brett McMurphy from On Three Sports. And we talked a lot of Monday or Tuesday about those quotes he got from Anonymous Athletic directors in the ACC who were very critical of Notre Dame, called them cry babies for, you know, opting out of the Pop-Tarts Bowl and a lot of venting about that favorable one-sided deal they have with the ACC. You and I are on the same page that, hey, if you're complaining about it, let's blame the former ACC commissioner who put them in that sweetheart deal. Don't blame Notre Dame for it. But so after that McMurphy report, where maybe he cherry picks some quotes of ADs who are anti-Noderdame. And then maybe the athletic in a great report that came out on Friday,

Starting point is 00:02:09 they might have cherry-picked some quotes from athletic directors who are not anti-Nodername. So we have a good old-fashioned quote off. Let me give you some of these, Kenton. An ACC athletic director in response to the On-3 report said, that's BS. He was perplexed by the notion that Notre Dame is using the league. Another wondered why skipping the Pop-Tarts Bull, Georgia Tech moved up in the ACC bowl rotation to take Notre Dame slot was a negative for the league at all. While the second AD said he didn't like the concept of Notre Dame skipping the bowl game, he failed to see why it would trigger pitchforks and torches from his counterparts.

Starting point is 00:02:49 He said, quite frankly, everybody else benefited by going up a slot, he said. None of us were harmed and we probably helped by them not going to Orlando for the Pop-Tarts bowl. So, and you know what, Kenton, that actually makes sense because, you know, the actual full football members were able to benefit from the non football member taking their ball and going home. Dono, I know which athletic director this was. I know I can tell you. I figured it out, okay? I figured it out.

Starting point is 00:03:21 Now, normally, you're not supposed to tell, but we're going to break this stuff live on locked on ACC or not live. I'm sorry, pre-recorded on locked on ACC. see we're going to break this news to you okay the first athletic director is named femme jillips okay phim jillips is the first athletic director now the second athletic director is real slippery guy he likes to stay in the quiet likes to stay in the background he goes by jimmy p i don't know i don't know now the third one really is anonymous i'm still doing some digging there i'm still doing some digging there. But Donno, this is very clearly an attempt to repair that relationship and whatnot because, you know, the reality is it's sure you can go with the argument that,

Starting point is 00:04:14 yes, there is benefits to having Notre Dame and ACC. Absolutely. Absolutely. I have never said there are zero benefits to having Notre Dame be a partial ACC member. There absolutely are. However, it is the same thing that goes in human nature and has been here for quite some time. You are watching one person who is a part of a very similar deal to you, get favorable treatment that you are not able to receive. It's perfectly fine to be upset at that. And even the notion of, well, everybody moved up because they got out of the way. So then that means that every other year they're pushing everybody else down by existing. That's a good point.

Starting point is 00:04:56 That's a good point. So, like, what are we, you know, again, hey, Jim, I got you. Don't worry. I know I outage you on this show. I know, you know, some people from the office are going to be upset about that. But the reality is, it's very clear. Yes, there are benefits. Nobody's denying that, right?

Starting point is 00:05:16 As Brian Smith said, if any of these guys got a job for Notre Dame, well, of course, of course. Money talks and everything else walks. We all know that. Donald, if somebody told you right now, I give you $3 million to be the host of Blocking, on Notre Dame and you can't talk about the canes of the positive light anymore. Are you going to keep on that you? Oh, you put me in a tough spot here. I plead the fifth, but I think you know my answer.

Starting point is 00:05:40 He plead the third million. That's what he plead, okay? He pleaded that he's in South Carolina. I cannot be bought for less than $2.9 million, just so we're clear. Less than $2.9. Get out of down on phase. Now, once you go up on three, they're in action. But in all seriousness, that's what this seems like.

Starting point is 00:05:57 seems like a very intentional, like, hey, even if this isn't Jim Phillips actually being the anonymous ADs, he may have put some pressure on the ADs that he knew would respond favorably. Hey, go talk to them. Go on over there. You know how you have to nudge your boy to go talk to the pretty girl after the day. Same thing. Hey, go, go talk to athletic. Tell them Notre Dame is cool.

Starting point is 00:06:20 Tell them we like Notre Dame. Go talk to them. I mean, it's been well publicized. Jim Phillips and Pete Bavacua. They talked it over. You know, remember in December, you know, Bavakwa, who's the athletic director from Notre Dame, essentially went on a media tour. Like he did multiple press conferences.

Starting point is 00:06:39 Like one presser was not enough. He did a media tour where he was complaining about how badly the ACC treated them because their social media manager, you know, had the audacity to, you know, tweet out the score of a game that did happen between Miami and Notre Dame and Miami won that game. And Pete said that he and Jimmy P. They worked it out, right? Jimmy P said he and Pete worked it out. So yeah, Kenton, maybe with that comes.

Starting point is 00:07:09 Jim Phillips is probably encouraging his member institutions. Hey, guys, I just put out a fire a few months ago. Like, don't give me another fire with Notre Dame to put out. Can we say something nice about the Irish for a change? So there may be something to that. Again, as much as I want to like Jim Phillips, as much as I want to give him credit for things, every time I do, every time my peddle on behind, I pull back a handful of crap. Every single time. So this time I'm going to just say, you know, this is Jim Phillips doing standard Jim Phillips things.

Starting point is 00:07:42 And this is something that even if I didn't believe that he would crap in bed after I gave him a comment, I still wouldn't compliment this. Because again, this is like, you know, your athletic directors have. a legitimate right. Your ad leg directors aren't making something up out of nowhere. Like, yes, sure. It's, it's cool to see that guy's Lambo parked out front when he's coming over and doing all the things that we talked about in yesterday's show, or two days ago show. Sure, it's cool to have that Lambo in your front yard, but all the bad stuff is still there. So, you know, I get it. Jim Phillips put out the fire. And for a financial reason, they have to act as if there is no fire. Oh, everything's fine. There is no war in Basin, say.

Starting point is 00:08:23 Sure, they have to do that to keep up appearances. But the reality is what the reality is. And again, it makes a lot of sense that people would be mad at a university that felt just miffed, just was mortified and shocked and bewildered by the idea that a full member gets better treatment than us. What? My land. So another thing, Jim Phillips offered a little quick clarity on the push for a 24 team playoff.

Starting point is 00:08:57 And I do think there's kind of a sciop narrative that's being put out there. We'll talk about that so much more. Plus, can ACC programs benefit from doing what Duke has done with Amazon Prime? You want to keep it locked right here. We're only getting started on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. Oh, and my friends, we are only getting started with Rocket Money. If you've ever looked at your bank account and thought, where did all my money go? You're not alone.

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Starting point is 00:10:10 Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join at RocketMoney.com slash Locked On. That's RocketMoney.com slash Locked On. Thank you so much for making Locked on ACC your first listen. You know, so Kenton, I still, I'm going to die on this hill that a valid criticism of the 2014 playoff format is the devaluing of the regular season. That when you talk about potentially four lost teams, hell, maybe even five lost teams if they have the right media narratives behind them, making the college football playoff, I do think that devalues the regular season. But I feel like this narrative that's now out there is being intentionally used as like a college football playoff. a sci-op to try and invalidate the entire premise of this devaluing the regular season?

Starting point is 00:11:04 Because I notice some influencers are out there, and they're like, well, you know what? What if you do a 2014 playoff? And then when Michigan and Ohio State play each other in the game, they're going to be resting starters now. They're going to be resting starters and take it easy so they stay healthy for the playoff. Like, no one with half a brain is saying that, Kenton. I mean, saying you could devalue the regular season with a bigger playoff is not the same thing as some idiot out there saying that the two teams that hate each other the most in this sport, maybe in sports period, would arrest their starters in the final regular season game. I feel like people are taking it out there too far.

Starting point is 00:11:48 And those are actually people who are proponents of the 2014 playoff. And they're throwing that narrative out there to make the whole thing feel ridiculous. because no, I would not expect Michigan and Ohio State to stop taking their game seriously. That's ridiculous. Donald, when I was a Michigan fan, you could have taken one of my pinkies off before I would have decided to take it easy on Ohio State as, you know, in the game. And now that I'm in North Carolina State graduate, I am the exact same way about the Dirty Foot Club. If both of us reached that cachet where it was one versus two, And it was either in Carter Finley or Keenan Stadium.

Starting point is 00:12:31 And they said, hey, number one versus number two, both of these teams could rest their start. You, the stuff that you must be smoking to believe that that is feasible hadn't even been created yet. Yeah. We're still at least 30 years out from technological advances and advances in different types of drugs that we can mix and cultivate before we get into some stuff that makes that. seem logical. I can understand if you said, oh, late season games in general will be word less, whatever. The school's biggest rivalries? Let's do the math on this, Dono.

Starting point is 00:13:08 Even with the 2014 playoff, that means what percent of schools won't be getting in? There's about, what, 130, 140? Can you just tell me, because you're asking me to run a percentage of 24 out of the 140? Either way you've got to slice it, Dono, there's always... Either way, you've got to slice it out of. There's over 100 teams. There's over 120 teams that are not going to the playoff, right? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:13:35 Those 120 teams that are not going to the playoffs. You think all of them are just going to be, hey, pack it up, pack it in. We know rivalry week is coming up. We know the week to play the team that we hate the most in the world is coming up. But we're just going to throw it all away. Alabama will not be a national championship contender every year. The world don't work like that. no school will be.

Starting point is 00:13:57 Miami won't be. Florida State, damn sure wasn't. We see it. NC State has not been historically, nor has UNC, nor has Louisville, nor has a majority of the ACC. But do you think that Virginia and Virginia

Starting point is 00:14:12 and Virginia Tech are going to look across that field and say, hey, we ain't got no shot in playoffs. Let's, you know, the Commonwealth, this robbery don't mean nothing, man. Y'all, hey, you gentlemen go home,

Starting point is 00:14:25 We'll go home. Let's shake hands and get our twos and threes in there. Huh? Although the reality of college football has changed because of all of the money and things like that, although we've seen players, you know, switch sides in these robberies and all that. Those are real things that have happened. But one thing that you will never see is entire teams,

Starting point is 00:14:48 entire teams and not just a team or two, not just a team whose head coach was fired or whatever. I mean entire like large swaths of teams go into rivalry, rivalry week and say, I'm good. I don't really care. Yeah. So it's like they bring up this extreme example to kind of make the whole thing seem wacky, which is what I don't like is, okay, when I talk about devaluing the regular season,

Starting point is 00:15:15 I'm not saying teams won't try as hard. I'm saying that if you can get into the playoffs with four losses, it takes interest away from the regular season because I'm old enough to remember when you're watching your favorite team, they lose one time and you're thinking, oh my God, that might be it. We may be mathematically eliminated

Starting point is 00:15:37 from a national championship with this one loss. I'm not saying anyone's going to try less hard on Saturdays. I'm just saying if you can get in with four losses, the regular season is not the same for me. And don't know, remember a time when there was a big, upset happening when the number one overall team and something like that was about to go down and you got a call from one of your other friends if you weren't watching that game because you were watching your boys play. Hey man, you got to watch this this game here, bro. It's going down.

Starting point is 00:16:04 These boys are about to get knocked out the BCS championship and you're just like, what word. Now I got to flip over there and all that. This takes away from that. You know why? Because that one loss, inconsequential. Until that one loss is lost number three. or four, that one loss is like, if you play in the right conference, it happens. It's a mulligan. Why would I call you and say, Donald, you got to check out. You got to check out Duke and Florida State right now, man. I'm telling you, you know, Florida State is finally back and Duke is about to get them up. Why would I need to call you like that? If he didn't. Fair, but even if he was in a two wins that game, everything still works out the same for Florida

Starting point is 00:16:49 State. You know what I'm saying? Or vice versa. Right. Like it just doesn't make sense. It does not make sense to pretend as if the acknowledgement that this changes things is now the same as to conflict that with nothing matters anymore. Everything is doom and gloom and nobody will ever try hard again because now that everybody's getting paid, no players haven't sent up to work hard anymore. By the way, that was a real argument against paying college football players. Once you start paying these guys, they won't play hard. So all this foolishness, we know that you do not need that many teams in the college football playoff. We know that it devalues the regular season and strips college football of one of the unique aspects of it. But we don't need to take it to a point where it's like teams that got the college football playoff already locked up,

Starting point is 00:17:40 they're just going to rest their players. Because a lot like I said about Pitt last year when they said, you could lose to Notre Dame by 100. It will be okay. loserville stuff when it affects your team you cannot just shake it and get rid of it you can't just do a little happy dance and the loserville stuff is gone when you start accepting mediocrity that becomes a lifestyle being a champion being a winner happens in every single choice you make yeah by the way when you brought up the whole thing about paying players it reminded me of something that i saw today here friday we don't have the full details on this because it sounds like uh the news outlets are still waiting on the full memo. But Brandon Marcello of CBS Sports is teasing that, so, you know, the Senate, the U.S. Senate is taking another crack at bipartisan legislation of college sports because they don't think that that score act is going to pass, but there is, and I don't know very many senators.

Starting point is 00:18:44 Like Ted Cruz was one of them on the Republican side. There was a Democratic senator that he's working with like a bioccurts. bipartisan bill. And so again, they don't have the full details on this, but supposedly part of this bipartisan bill is going to be, and this could be a very good thing. It could also be a slippery slope. But part of that bill is going to be reportedly Kenton ensuring that like NIL deals do not circumvent the salary cap. I guess you call it, which is the revenue sharing cap, which is at like 20 and a half million. It's going to go above. that. So why I say this could be a very good thing. Like it could be a very good thing if you're basically saying, you know, pay for play will not, you know, outside of the, the 20 and a half million cap or whatever the cap is at any given time, that like extra deals that are basically disguising pay for play money as NIL, that will not be tolerated. I think we can all agree. That's probably a good thing. But I guess what I would be worried about Kenton is the idea that

Starting point is 00:19:49 you take away basically free market NIL deals from players. That's what I would be worried about because there are some cases where if it's a legit NIL deal, you're advertising a product and you're a big, like you think, and it's not always football players. Like think about what a superstar like Livy Dunn and Angel Reese. Like there have been some huge superstars even outside of football. Who are. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:20:16 Oh, Tiger Woods is son. who have the gravitas to actually cut legitimate seven-figure NIL deal. So, like, I don't want those opportunities to be taken away, Kenton. So I hope that, you know, that this involves some kind of a robust clearinghouse process, because if your idea is imposing a salary cap where you don't have collective bargaining and you're taking away legitimate advertising opportunities, because, like, the NFL has a salary cap, but there's no cap on legitimate advertising revenue.

Starting point is 00:20:48 Patrick Mahomes can do as many state farm commercials as he want, and that doesn't count against his contract. So where I say slippery slope is like eliminating pay for play or fake NIL deals, that's good. But taking away actual NIL opportunities, if that's what they're looking to do, bad. This, everybody loves the free market to the wrong people get access to it, huh? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:21:12 The wrong fuck start making too much off it, huh? this is foolishness. This is foolishness. Here's the thing. There are schools that have. There are schools that have not. I am at, I'm NC State grad here. I know I'm not one of the schools that's just having it to where if we want your

Starting point is 00:21:28 quarterback, we're going to get your quarterback. We want your running back. We want to go get your running back. I understand that. But what I also understand is if we are doing this thing and saying, hey, these young men can get paid as much as their heart allows as much as these teams are willing to give them, then let's do that. The idea that we will create true parity via, you know, lowering the amount of these guys get paid.

Starting point is 00:21:53 Dono, you tell me, what's the last time we've seen a true dynasty in college football? A true, like, hey, every year we expect them in the national championship. And every year they've been. You tell me when the last time we saw with us. Hey, Kirby's smart with UGA up until about four, three, four years ago. there was Sabin with Bama for a hot second. You know, Dabo won two.

Starting point is 00:22:19 They were in there for a while. This is, you know, not since NIL became a big thing, though. And that is my point exactly. Yeah. If we're talking about, oh, we'll have more parity when the paper stopped. Where was the parody when nobody was getting paid allegedly? That's right.

Starting point is 00:22:36 Well, and that was part of the problem, that the programs who were doing it behind the scenes and a bigger advantage than when it was out in the open. Again, there is more parity in college football right now than ever before. If you would have told somebody in 2018, Indiana football will not only be your national champions, but the year before that, the only game they'll lose is to Ohio State, and then they'll lose one to Notre Dame, and that's it. They would have took you out back and put you down like a dog. You understand?

Starting point is 00:23:10 They would have said just. It seems a little drastic, but, I mean. Just look at the trees. You're speaking too much nonsense. You're speaking too much nonsense. Go down like old yellow. They'll get you. Okay, they might not put you down, but they'll get you in a nice soft room with no hard edges.

Starting point is 00:23:26 They get you some grippy socks, and you would have a nice little vacation. Three hots and a cop every single day in a nice padded room, right? And now Indiana is one of the kings of football. So it confuses me. when people say, well, we're doing this for the integrity of the sport, for the players, for the this, for the that. Because almost every argument, when you actually look at it, none of them hold true. I'm doing it for parity. Parody is greater now.

Starting point is 00:23:54 We're doing it for the players. Do you think that players would want to make less money? Do you think that any player is like, hey, I want to make less or any of that? Now, I will say there needs to be collective bargaining amongst the players because college athletes, if you can hear the sound of my voice, voice. Please understand this. This is the what, second, third, fourth, fifth, this is the 50-11 time in the words of Yinyang twins

Starting point is 00:24:18 that government official and coaches have gotten together to mess with your pockets. My grandmother was in the union, UAW, for a long time, and one of the things that she taught her, which she in turn taught her children who then taught me,

Starting point is 00:24:37 either you bargain collectively or you beg and deviant, And right now, athletes, if you're not paying attention, you're going to get really close to begging individually because the NCAA and the government keep saying, we got to find a way to cut this down. We got to find a way to limit this. We got to find the way to shrink this. And to be fair, like our conversation is kind of the sum of all fears. Like, we don't have the details of how this is actually going to work, but this is like our worst fear. would be taking away actual free market advertising opportunities from players who would have those at their, you know, access to those deals in any other walk of life other than playing

Starting point is 00:25:23 college sports. We don't want those to be taken away. A deal like that was cut by Duke basketball with Amazon Prime. Could football programs follow suit? You want to keep it locked right here? We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Lockdown ACC. Thank you for making Lockdown on ACC your first listen. And if you haven't yet, make sure you join that Everydayer Club. If you listen to our shows every day, you're an Everydayer. Make that status official by going to Lockedonpodcast.com slash Everydayer and join the Everydayer Club for your favorite shows, whether that's Locked on ACC,

Starting point is 00:26:01 Locked on Oathc, Locked on Welfpack with Kenton and Grayson, Locked on Cains with me. When you become an Everydayer, you get exclusive ad-free versions of our episodes, Discord chat access with hosts and other listeners like yourself. So many other great benefits go to Lockdown Podcast.com slash Everydayer to join the Everydayer Club today. All right. So with Duke striking that deal with Amazon Prime, and it's not exactly smooth sailing

Starting point is 00:26:27 because I think the Big Ten is probably going to keep Michigan from playing in that game on Amazon Prime because the Big Ten feels like they should own the rights to that neutral site game. So Duke might have to find another opponent for one of those two. But they struck a deal with Amazon Prime. It's an NIL deal for their athletes, plus a streaming deal for neutral site games.

Starting point is 00:26:50 And I'm not surprised. Like Jim Phillips said, A, Duke came up with something creative, right? I think Phillips is just happy. If his member schools can find ways to make additional revenue outside of that crappy grant of rights, the commissioner should be happy about that. So Jimmy P is not going to stand in their way.

Starting point is 00:27:08 So I guess my question would be, Kenton, for football programs, right? Like, you know, Florida State, Clemson, Miami might be big enough brands where they could neutral-site games find interests from streaming partners like that to make additional revenue. Do you think that's the road we're going to go down? Or do you think the ACC and ESPN might find a way to block that? Because football is still more valuable than even Duke basketball right now. I'd be very surprised they didn't find a way to block that. because like you said, football is more valuable,

Starting point is 00:27:39 but even beyond that, you just have less opportunities, right? So in taking away that one game for Duke, how many non-conference games will ESPN still have for Duke? Yeah, dozens, yeah. Now, let's try that with football. We take away one of Miami, one of Florida State, one of one of Clemson, one of, you know, Louisville's, one of their, you take away one of their non-conference games,

Starting point is 00:28:07 How many do you have left? How many opportunities have? Three? A handful. Yeah. That's going to say just a few. Yeah. So you're looking out a very different circumstance there.

Starting point is 00:28:17 And when you look at that type of circumstance, it has to be made very, very clear. It doesn't, wouldn't even make sense. Wouldn't even add up to say like, hey, we're going to treat football the same way we would basketball. Because again, you can get that big game from Duke, not televised under you. And you can still recover with another big game that is. in football, if you lose one big game, let's say Clemson cancels with Clemson LSU, and then they find another dance partner

Starting point is 00:28:46 that's from the Big Ten or somewhere else that is not under ESPN, and they get a different type of coverage deal. ESPN just lost massively in that. I don't think that they'll be as okay losing a quarter of their out-of-conference football revenue as they would be losing what, one-tenth, one-12, one, you know,

Starting point is 00:29:07 know, one-eighth of their out-of-conference basketball. Yeah, no, that's a good point. Because, like, I saw, they had a stat in the story that, you know, do you remember, like, when Duke played Michigan out of conference last year, it was a massive game. Yeah. But it still, it did, like, 4.3 million views. And, like, Clemson versus Georgia Tech, which, football, which is, like, an okay game,

Starting point is 00:29:33 but it wasn't like the end-all-be-all did more than double the rate number for. that. Exactly. Football is king. Football is still king. It's very clear. And you're going to treat the king in a different way that you treat every other piece on the board.

Starting point is 00:29:46 That's just the way that it works. Right. Obviously, when that king is gone, it's over. You can sacrifice every other piece. That's the one piece. Ain't no sacrifice in him. When he's gone, the game is over. So, you know, obviously, I highly doubt that the ACC and, you know,

Starting point is 00:30:02 ESPN and company would just be okay with the ACC would be okay with it. because Jim Phillips is, you know, he's one of those guys, whatever keeps everybody happy and smiling, I'm happy to do it. But in terms of what creates success in this moment, Jim Phillips would definitely be a little bit more, you know, hush, hush about things. Yeah, I was a little off, by the way, on the rating of that Clemson, George's tag. It did do more than the Duke basketball game, though. So here's the exact stat.

Starting point is 00:30:28 Duke, Michigan, which was a banger of a game and a huge game, 4.3 million for basketball. Miami versus Notre Dame and football last year, 10.8 million, Clemson, Georgia, 4.8 million, and even FSU versus Virginia, which was either a Thursday night or I think was a Friday night game, did 4.4 million. So even like, you know, football matchups, even if they're not like the end all, be all will tend to do more than that game did. But last thing, Kenton, you know, everyone, we know the ACC is working on tweaking their tiebreaker, right? Because, you know, You had Duke won that, what was it, five-team tiebreaker for the ACC championship game,

Starting point is 00:31:11 even though they didn't have head-to-head wins against any of the teams they leaped in front of. And some of those teams had head-to-head wins over them. It's a little wonky. Now, according to the athletic, we're going to find out what the new tiebreaker is at some point before the 2026 season. I think we're going to get that probably at the ACC kickoff in July. That's usually when they like to break news like that. but they said the reason for the delay is more interesting than you'd think. Jim Phillips said he's pitched the other conference commissioners on a common tiebreaker system,

Starting point is 00:31:45 either one for the Power 4 or one for the entire Football Bowl subdivision, FBS. If everyone had the same procedures, fans wouldn't have to study manuals to understand why CFP rankings more in determining the American champion than the ACC champion. There are challenges, Phillips said, like the number of teams and conference games in each league, but his hope is to make a collective system that's more digestible for fans. You know what? I'm rooting for Phillips on that because it's a great idea. If you can get at least all the power for, if not all of FBS football, to have like the same tiebreaker protocol,

Starting point is 00:32:24 that just makes too much sense. Because I know, like, in college sports, the conferences have more autonomy, but it's like in the NFL, the division tiebreakers are the same for all, you know, what is it, eight divisions where it's not, it's not the same in college football. So I would love to get a uniformed system. I don't have too much to say about this. All I know is if what we're going to see here is whether or not, you know, these, these teams are, or these conferences, rather, want to have things be standardized and normal. That's, that's pretty much the only question that you have to ask here. And we'll get an answer very quickly.

Starting point is 00:33:02 Yeah, no doubt. Yeah, I don't think there's too much to say except I hope they figure something out. And if they can't get the other conferences on board, I hope the ACC comes up with a kick-ass tiebreaker for just them. That's all I want. We appreciate everybody for making Locked on ACC your first listen. Make sure you follow Kenton at TJF underscore Kenton and on Locked on Wolfpack. Make sure you follow me at Alex Dono and on Locked on Caines. And we'll talk to you next time on another episode of Lockdown ACC.

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Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - NOTRE DAME BACKLASH: ACC ADs DEFEND Irish, IGNITE Heated Debate Over "One-Sided" Deal

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