Has it been posted that ND supports the 24-team playoff?
The SEC is the last holdout with sanity, pushing for 16 instead. But they'll cave at some point - as much as it sucks, 24 appears inevitable.
Pete is not Jack + Picking Your Battles
A couple of things here.
Pete is not Jack. That is a good thing. As someone who works in sports and worked within college sports for a minute, I think Pete is the proper architype for ND at this moment. Jack was great navigating the battleship at 30,000 feet in an older era of collegiate athletics where hanging on to principles/elements of amateurism allowed ND overly distinct and unique in how they approach all situations.
Those days are gone and college athletics have been professionalized. With that, schools make decisions based on the control they have granted to broadcast partners via rights deals (see the ongoing saga in the ACC with Clemson/FSU). I feel much more comfortable having someone like Pete (and even Petiti) in the saddle, who has navigated those commercial waters in prior roles, than someone like Jack. Sample size of one. But just some additional context.
Also, you need to pick your battles. The sitting in a circle and singing Kumbaya that has happened with Phillips and Pete at the ACC meetings signals something else to me. Pete recognizes that ND was the story for a while last year. They can't continue to be the story. They need to fall in line, at least publically, on certain issues so when they need to cause a shit storm again, it actually gets a fair shot at a fair take from the public. If they continue to go against the grain, it helps no one in the long run as they just look like a challenging part-time member, to the ACC or someone like the B1G or SEC who could be a future home.
Most of this makes sense to me
other than the part at the end. The notion that ND is ever going to get a fair shake from Joe Sweatsock who takes his marching orders directly from the big conference/network cabal on TV & SM sounds awfully dubious. Whatever dry powder Pete is holding back is practically worthless IMO. We will never win over hearts + minds in that forum. Our only recourse is winning. And money.
I have accepted that we will never get universal support.
by San Pedro 
, More than 100 feet from Bob Davies, Friday, May 15, 2026, 10:13 (10 days ago) @ KGB
There were plenty of talking heads saying we got screwed last December. That's about as good as we can hope for.
Minority view
I like it. More college football is good, not bad. And I think the prospect that a Wake Forest or an Iowa can make the playoffs is good for those schools and ultimately good for the sport. This seems unquestionably good for ND; it helps with scheduling and gives us more opportunities to make the playoffs.
Not that anyone here is guilty of this but there is a bit of a “get off my lawn” quality to the opposition.
Sure, it’s all about the money. But, boy, we are well beyond that.
garbage 7-5 teams getting into a playoff
isn't lighting my fire.
Yep. The only silver lining is that the likelihood of
by Jack , Friday, May 15, 2026, 10:25 (10 days ago) @ Jay
edited by Jack, Friday, May 15, 2026, 10:28
a Cinderella team winning it all or even getting to the final four is very low. But by the same token it highlights it as a big money grab.
12 is good. 24 is ridiculous. Instead of bowl games no one cares about that are at least competitive, now there will be things like Ohio State playing the MAC champion. Oh, the joy of a buy-in game in the playoffs!!
My opposition isn't because of traditionalism
Unless devaluing the regular season is a Boomer ethos.
That's my issue with it. College football had a fatalism feel to it with any loss potentially looming as a season ending consequence. The entire season was a playoff.
I agree.
by San Pedro , More than 100 feet from Bob Davies, Friday, May 15, 2026, 07:12 (10 days ago) @ Domer99
I don't feel strongly about it, but there are going to be some absolute clunker playoff games. The first round is already largely lopsided. This will only make it worse.
Playoff fatigue is a real issue for me as well. The tournament is like 4.5 weeks long at this point. How bad will it be when the number of teams is doubled?
If it wipes out the CCGs, I'm for it
by Jeff (BGS) , A starter home in suburban Tempe, Friday, May 15, 2026, 07:01 (10 days ago) @ Dallasdomer
The only trick is that the playoffs are closing in on being half as long as the regular season:
Week 1: 8 games to go from 24 to 16 teams
Week 2: 8 games to go from 16 to 8 teams
Week 3: 4 games to go from 8 to 4 teams
Week 4: 2 games to go from 4 to 1 teams
Week 5: championship game
Depending on the team, 12-game schedules already have a bunch of scrimmages baked into them. So a team with a schedule like Indiana's can play 2-3 meaningful regular season games, then 4-5 meaningful playoff games.
I honestly don't think this encourages teams to put together difficult regular season schedules. It lowers the floor to allow for a slip-up or two, but the best strategy is still playing as many cupcakes as possible to lock in a playoff spot and as high a seed as possible.
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At night, the ice weasels come.
Same...
by nedhead , Friday, May 15, 2026, 02:42 (10 days ago) @ Dallasdomer
I don't love the bye weeks, but so it goes. It's better than the current setup.
Wonder if 24 also might stave off superconference
by LaFortune Teller 
, South Bend, Thursday, May 14, 2026, 09:41 (11 days ago) @ BPH
inevitability, or at least alter the superconference incentive structure when the next great re-organization happens. Or maybe there will just be a 60 team superconference with a 24 team playoff anyway, who knows.
24 teams is stupid. But our motivation might be that it will
by BillyGoat , At Thanksgiving with Joe Bethersontin, Thursday, May 14, 2026, 08:23 (11 days ago) @ BPH
reportedly kill the conference title games, so it will eliminate the "extra data point" bullshit.
It would also theoretically make scheduling easier
since a tougher schedule including games against ND will likely be viewed favorably for inclusion with it being more difficult for playoff candidates to distinguish themselves amongst a gaggle of mediocre-ass 3+ loss teams.
However, I think bumping to 16 would achieve a similar goal without making the CFP a total fucking clown show like 24 would.
I think you will see bifurcated scheduling philosophies
by Jeff (BGS) , A starter home in suburban Tempe, Thursday, May 14, 2026, 12:57 (11 days ago) @ KGB
1) The Indiana approach will probably work for non-blue bloods, and would be a valid path to the playoffs for any P4 team. Put together the easiest schedule possible to basically guarantee a 10+ win season. This will absolutely lock in a playoff spot for any P2 team, and be pretty close to a lock for the ACC and B12 teams.
2) Build up a tougher schedule and hope that the committee allows a strong win to overwrite a loss. This has the advantage of putting your team on TV as well as preparing for play against tough teams, but I'm not sure relying on the committee to reward you is all that wise of a strategy.
The optimal strategy is probably to follow the first approach and push the rest of your conference to follow the second. Good matchups will increase TV revenue over the long run, and all of that money is shared across the conference. Plus, a team would get the reputation of playing in a tough conference without having to play extra tough games. '25 Mississippi kind of went down this route.
Along those lines, I wonder if ND would have been better off last season beating Texas A&M but losing to Boise State or someone else.
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At night, the ice weasels come.
8 would be an adequate number in an ideal world without
by BillyGoat , At Thanksgiving with Joe Bethersontin, Thursday, May 14, 2026, 09:20 (11 days ago) @ KGB
conference political bullshit.
Conference political bullshit makes 16 the ideal number for ND (IMO).
The only redeeming quality of 24 would be if it kills the conference title games. But that would be a pretty darn redeeming quality for me as an ND fan.
cosine
by Joe I , Friday, May 15, 2026, 09:17 (10 days ago) @ BillyGoat
- No text -
Yeah, I think it's an unfortunate compromise.
by Joe I , Thursday, May 14, 2026, 09:00 (11 days ago) @ KGB
16 teams would clearly have provided the same benefits as 24 (save the extra $$$ grab), but conferences are unwilling to remove their championship games unless it's at 24.
Overall, probably a net positive for ND, so I'll take it. The conference championship games need to go.