Calamitous

I base a university’s prestige on their alumni in the workplace as the best metric. All those metrics like GPAs, SATs, etc that “make a school great” mean nothing until you’re in the real world. UVa alum are mostly oversold and am always left with that feeling like I just paid twice as much for a car than I should have. They’re not dumb but they’re not exactly the clever Mensa material they claim to be. I find many of them lazy because they go into the real world thinking they’re smarter than the rest and can get by on their wits. Only to find out that the Tech, VMI, ODU, VCU and JMU guys are every bit as sharp as they are. I’ve worked in Virginia for 36 years after college and I can say without any doubt that every “dream team” that I’ve worked with has always had multiple Hokies in that group. I have yet to have a Wahoo on a dream team. Most say I’m biased because I have a Tech degree, but Tech really is the best school in Virginia when you look at sheer intelligence and problem-solving abilities. UVa grads all want to manage people right out of college and I have to say their management skills aren’t any more stellar than any other school alumni.

In the ACC, you have the 6 neighbors (Clemson, NC State, Wake, UNC, Duke and UVa) who have been there forever and are like those entitled neighbors that look down at anyone new coming in. And they still miss Maryland even though they’ll never admit it. Then you have the 4 neighbors (GT, FSU, Tech and Miami) who moved in when the neighborhood was still “the cool place to be.” Then the yankees (BC, SU and Pitt) moved in and drove the price up, with one homeowner (ND) buying a house but renting it out just to collect the money because he felt he’s too good to actually live there. After all that, one neighbor (UMCP) got fed up with the neighborhood and upgraded to a pricier location. That’s when the those questionable neighbors (UL) moved into UMCP’s house. UL’s children are truant partying troublemakers always getting the FSU, Miami and Clemson’s families kids into trouble. There are still rumors that these UL neighbors are selling drugs and running a brothel. Now, things have gotten strange, a Texan with a lot of oil money (SMU) and two wealthy California snobs (Cal and Stanford) have moved in. None of the neighbors know them except for the ND guy who only visits once a year to check on his property. Today, the Miami, FSU and Clemson neighbors constantly talk about leaving but can’t afford to. UVa and UNC have secretly already left and none of the neighbors are aware of it. Duke may also be planning to leave but none of the other neighbors seem to care. ND is thinking of upgrading their rental property to look more appealing to higher paying tenants but plan to stay in the neighborhood until the economy makes a downturn. The NCSU, GT, Wake and Tech neighbors still think this is a great neighborhood and are completely oblivious to what’s to happen in the near future. The Tech and NCSU dads cookout every weekend and are too drunk to pay attention. Their daughters secretly like that bad boy UL kid but the dads hate him. The yankees pretty much don’t give a crap and never liked their neighbors anyway. And the newcomers are just here for a little while. THIS is the ACC neighborhood in my eyes. ** Edited by Calamitous at 4/4/2026, 7:16:47 AM ** Edited by Calamitous at 4/4/2026, 7:28:39 AM ** Edited by Calamitous at 4/4/2026, 7:31:14 AM ** Edited by Calamitous at 4/4/2026, 7:34:08 AM

and the SECis still reluctant to grow but the Big 10 wants to steal UNC and UVa to start the next wave of conference destruction, that would be a 36 team super league with a bunch of pissed off Big 12 and ACC schools. Maybe then some of the Big 12 and ACC could band together to form their own 20 team league with 5 divisions. Division 1: Zona, ASU, Utah, BYU and Colorado Division 2: Texas Tech, Ok State, K State, KU and ISU Division 3: Pitt, WVU, Louisville, Syracuse and Miami Division 4: FSU, GT, Clemson, NCSU and VT

than the ACC. The ACC eats their own and no one can ever have anything nice. And ACC fans generally suck outside of FSU, Clemson, NC State and Virginia Tech (sometimes Louisville will have fans). Nothing says big time football like Duke at Wake Forest or BC at Stanford. If Alabama or Georgia joined the ACC (I know that would never happen btw), those 2 would dominate the ACC for a decade like Tech did when we first joined. But after a decade, Bama and UGa would get ACC’d and start having 6 to 8 win seasons like the rest of us. We can’t have anything nice.

If an ACC or Big 12 school ranked #11 or even #10 gets booted because of the G6 and ND rule, will the P2 care or will they simply just care for their own? I almost wonder if the P2 would like to see this happen to power schools outside their conferences in case it causes more discontent and dysfunction in the ACC and Big 12.

That UNC has 367,000, NC State 300,000+, Tech 250,000+ and UVa 230,000+. Not sure I’m trusting AI that much on this because Tech has the largest student numbers (12K more than UVa but only 20,000 more living alumni; and slightly larger than NC State). Unless Tech has crappy graduation rates, we should have more living alumni than those other 3 schools. But leave it to Tech to modest and not work the numbers like most other universities.

right, wrong or indifferent. I agree that a large school (which typically means a state school) is what the Big 18 and SEC look for. Outside of Vandy, Northwestern and USC, all of the Big 18 and SEC schools are either large land grants or large flagships (in some cases both like tOSU and LSU). 15 of the 16 SEC schools are either land grant or flagship with Vandy being the oddball. 15 of the 18 Big 18 schools are land grant or flagship. USC is a national brand like ND and UCLA is a very large public university similar to FSU in that it is neither land grant nor flagship. Northwestern is really the only oddball in the Big 18. As for the term flagship, I know some people dislike the term, but every state has a flagship. Technically W&M could be Virginia’s flagship since it s the oldest and a public school. But it’s a smaller public school and is still tied to a royal charter. This is why UVa assumes it. Tech alumni can contend that Tech is the flagship, but most outside of the state of VA see UVa as the flagship. Don’t worry, we’re still better than them😂.

I’m waiting for the day my Hokies are 11-1 and #6 in the country, then we lose to #20 8-4 Clemson in the ACCCG. 9-4 Clemson will move up to #14 to get the auto bid and Tech will drop to #11. #28 Troy State and #12 ND (who is 10-2 and will not get penalized for losing a 13th championship game) will both get in ahead of a 11-2 #11 team that would be Virginia Tech. That’s a problem. If the committee thought this through they would require ND to play 13 games to qualify for the autobid spot and that autobid spot should not be #12 all the time, it should be conditional because sometimes ND would have to be #10 or #11 to get the autobid. The powers that be were dumb in not thinking this through. I guarantee the first school to get screwed by ND over this will be my Hokies.

Why would 60+ universities being part of multiple power conferences ever have given this much leverage to one private school? I know… I know,.. antitrust yada yada yada. But if that’s true, why couldn’t the G5 (now 6) have fought the same thing? ND just has craftier lawyers. The CFP committee was in too much of a rush to make a #12 ND an automatic bid. There needed to be conditions: Condition #1: Notre Dame must play 13 games to qualify for all the subsequent conditions. Playing only 12 games does not guarantee ND a bid. Condition #2: a #12 spot (this can be any university and not just a special ND condition) receives an auto bid if the G6 auto bid and all conference champions are ranked 11th or higher. Condition #3: If one power conference winner and the G6 school auto bid are both ranked #13 or worse, then only the top 10 ranked schools get auto bids. #11 and #12 are no longer eligible. Condition #4: If two power conference winners and the G6 school auto bid are all ranked #13 or worse, then only the top 9 ranked schools get auto bids. #10, #11 and #12 are no longer eligible. Condition #5: If three power conference winners and the G6 school auto bid are all ranked #13 or worse, then only the top 8 ranked schools get auto bids. #9, #10, #11 and #12 are no longer eligible. Condition #6: If all four power conference winners and the G6 school auto bid are all ranked #13 or worse, then only the top 7 ranked schools get auto bids. #8, #9, #10, #11 and #12 are no longer eligible.

But even going back in time, why would (at the time) 6 conferences consisting of 62 universities ever give that kind of leverage to one private school? Notre Dame may have cried “anti trust” but so could have Army, Navy, ECU, Memphis, Louisville, etc at that time. And if so, why couldn’t the WAC back in those days have been part of the equation? I think what we’re all ignoring is that ND plays a skillfull game. They are like the girl who dates a boy for many years who then rejects a marriage proposal later when asked, only to say I never really loved you but I still want to be friends. ND has been true to putting their foot down for football independence but their continued mind games with the Big East, ACC and NCAA have given those fools hope that they would join a conference one day. But if you listen to them closely, they want none of it but they sure do like parking all their other sports in some other conference.

Many of their land grants double as flagships. They like both flagships and land grants just like the SEC. The main thing is that the Big Ten wants large universities with large living alumni numbers. Tech is actually a better candidate for the Big Ten than UVa in that respect. We just don’t have AAU membership but UVa does.

AAU check. Flagship schools check. Very good academic standings check. Fit the Big Ten’s desire to invade southward - check. Lots of checks but their footballs fans are traditionally horrible. It’s a shame Tech doesn’t have AAU status, because we would check the same boxes (except we’re the big land grant instead of flagship) but we actually have tremendous fans that feel more Big Ten like. Lots of Tech fans think we have the SEC mentality, but we don’t wear polo shirts and sundresses (we mostly wear jeans and t-shirts like normal fans), we don’t wave Pom poms, we beat to our own drum which SEC fans are are similarly zombie-like and our fans IMO align better with most Big Ten schools. If the ACC truly self-destructs, I hope we can find a home in the Big Ten or SEC but my first preference would be Big Ten. I don’t know if they’d have us though.

but why were all the conferences that made up 12+ and now even larger memberships dumb enough to agree to it and making one pretentious private school have the same power as an 18 team conference like the Big 18? Too late and they were all dumb enough to agree with it, or were just plain to lazy to care, or felt they needed to rush it, or maybe all of the above. But it’s just bad business giving that much power to 1/68th of its representation. Shame on the 67/68ths who blindly agreed. They could have made a better deal.

Kind of like the spoiled brat that everyone hated in elementary school. But little brats always get their way in the end.

** Edited by Calamitous at 1/24/2026, 10:28:35 PM ** Edited by Calamitous at 1/24/2026, 10:28:57 PM

I don’t follow ND’s shenanigans that closely. But s that what they really proposed? If ND wants fair treatment, play 13 games and put some conditions on that automatic bid if ranked 12th. Sometimes they’ll have to be ranked higher given the weirdness of the auto G6 rule and possibility of lower ranked power conference champ. Too many special conditions for the yahoos. I care for Stephen A Smith, but he’s right when he said “Notre Dame. What makes them so damn special?”

** Edited by Calamitous at 1/24/2026, 9:41:32 AM

Sure, the MOU gives the bratty child a seat at the table. God knows why the other conferences ever agreed to it unless ND just has savvier lawyers. The hole in this argument is that rankings are and always have been subjective. Good lawyers could poke holes in it just by looking at a 9-4 Alabama team who was ranked top 10 but lost to below .500 FSU. Plus ND will always be ranked higher simply because of your name and for some stupid reason everyone is afraid of the insolent private school. Since that stupid MOU is in place, I think the better thing would have been to force ND to play 13 games every year if the automatic bid with a #12 ranking is a thing. And since they’re just making up random rules, make it so it reads “#12 or higher pending the following conditions where ND may need to be ranked #11 per clause bla bla bla, #10 per clause bla bla bla,#9 per clause bla bla bla…” #11 would be the highest ranking if the auto G6 school was ranked 13th or worse. #10 if the G6 and a power conference champ was ranked 13th worse. And #9 with the condition that a school was ranked higher than ND before the last a conference championship game and dropped below ND as a result combined with that 2nd condition. Since ND loves special rules so much, make it complicated and make those clowns work for it.

The only way to clean this up is for 56 power schools to create two leagues (Big Ten League and SEC League) with 4 divisions each consisting of 7 teams per division. Each P56 school will play a total of 13 games per year (6 in their division plus 7 in a rotation of the other 3 divisions). The Big Ten and SEC will never play one another outside of the college Super Bowl and maybe a few pre-season games that don’t count for regular season. Get rid of rankings altogether. Get rid of conference championship games. The team with the best overall record in each division gets an automatic bid to the playoff. If there is a tie, then tiebreaking procedures are needed, starting with head-to-head results, followed by division/conference records, and common game analyses. Make the college football playoff with 16 teams (8 per league). 4 division champs get automatic bids. 4 wildcards are chosen based on overall record. There may be times when one division is so strong and the other 3 weaker where 2 wildcard teams come from one division and maybe zero wildcard teams from a crappier division due to their poor records. Does this sound familiar? Maybe like the NFL? Probably because it’s their rules basically. College football is dying quickly to become a semi professional league. If that petulant private school doesn’t get on board and join one of these leagues, then they get left behind with no special rules.

The academic admission standards were much lower back then. Fight, fight, fight SVCC!!!! Not sure if we even had a athletic team or team name.

Regardless whether the Super league consists of the Big Ten league and SEC league or a different name like the Northern League and the Southern League, it’s still a conference and ND relinquishes football independence forever. Paint it however you like to paint it Terry, but you’ll be in a conference even if the term is “division” and ND will be a slave to the machine and have to follow the rules. Hope I’m still alive to witness it for a great long laugh.

Super League…. Conference. No existing conference is desirable yet ND will probably end up in the Big Ten when they help start the super league. The Big Ten looks like they’re going to win and conquer ND afterall. And this is your shtick as much as it is NDs. You take great pride in “football independence forever.” Plus I’ve seen you many years ago on the Boneyard and it’s the same shtick here that you had over there.

and a saw that and see that in every single one of your posts. But you also said “a super league is much more preferable to ND than joining any of the existing conferences.” I’m merely pointing out that a super league is either a conference by itself or will be a league made up of divisions (another word for conference). Sure, ND doesn’t want to join the ACC or the Big 12 because they are beneath them and maybe not the current SEC or Big Ten either. But the Big Ten would be OK as along as it was part of a super league. Well… that’s a conference and actually would be an existing conference that just grew to be the Big 24/28. And the hill you are dying on is that ND will never join a conference… football independence forever as you say. Sounds like the Big Ten is on the road to saying checkmate to ND and then a decision is needed. And being forced to do something like joining the Big Ten versus having an untenable situation are two different things. If the situation for ND is untenable down the road, no one is forcing you to do anything. ND CHOOSES to be football independent and makes their homes in conferences like the Big East and ACC for all other sports. If things go awry and ND can’t control the environment like they do today, then they either have to adapt (i.e join a conference like the Big Ten within a super league) or stick to your independent guns and play the likes of Miami Ohio and Troy every year. Either way ND loses and I think that’s the part you can’t stand. ND will be defeated and possibly conquered in all this mess. If there is refusal to be conquered, ND will be an independent in the NCAA version of college football and not in the super league. That’s OK though… it’s possible my school might be stuck there with you… it would be just our luck.

You were clear. I just need a class in reading comprehension 101. My bad.

Looking at the top 30 transfer portal rankings, there appears to be 6 schools from ACC and Big 12 conferences but those rankings seem so what subjective. I have heard Stanford is getting ready to dump big money. Regardless, it all makes me sad. This is just pro sports now and the collegiality of it all is about to die. ** Edited by Calamitous at 1/18/2026, 10:26:06 PM

Does that mean they have to poach non-ACC schools because of the GoRs? And would new schools still need to abide by their weird AAU standard? Arizona, ASU, Utah, Colorado and Kansas fit the bill. That’s only 5 though. I wonder who would be #6? ISU used to be AAU I believe. Or does that mean the Big 18 thinks they can get enough schools to leave the ACC to blow up the GoRs? If so, the could add UVa, UNC, GT and Miami to add too UMCP and Rutgers for a six school eastern division, and the add 2 schools like Arizona and ASU to the west to make that a six school western division. The other 2 divisions could be the 12 team Big 10 from before the additions of the Rutgers and UMCP. Then if the SEC wants to stay at 16 would that mean they would have 4 four team divisions competing with the Big 24’s 4 six team divsions? ** Edited by Calamitous at 1/18/2026, 9:43:28 PM

This sounds a little bit like a convenient re-definition exercise to me. If ND is good with, let’s say, being in the Big 28 super league, the Big 28 may force every school (including ND) into one of their four 7-team divisions (or another word could be conference). But let’s say the super conference model goes with 28 division-less teams, ND will still be in a conference but may only have access to 27 opponents versus the 130-something we have today. That’s unless the SEC and Big 28 allow for cross conference (ahem I meant super conference) play, then ND has access to 55 schools instead of the 130+. No more Navy at the very least but probably others too. And if ND tries to dictate to the Big 28 to grant a special condition where ND remains independent and not in a Big 28 division, I’m not sure I see the Big 28 being as weak and concessional as the Big East or ACC. But I’m sure ND will go nuclear and assemble the best lawyers they can find and even seek the Supreme Court to rule in their favor. The sun always seems to shine on the Irish’s ass.

I’d like to see the same statistics on whether the wealthier NIL recipients are also graduating. And something I’m not sure can be measured… but are they getting the UNC treatment where they don’t really have to go to class? The other thing that perplexes me is how some of these “student athletes” in football and basketball are going to 4 universities in 5 years and somehow getting a realistic education. Not sure much has changed in the haves versus have nots in terms of athletes going to class and receiving a degree, but my gut sees it slipping away more.

but what if universities viewed sports as a trade? For example, Peter Pigskin s majoring in football and gets 6 credits for playing football plus 9 credits for practicing and learning to play better football in the fall and 15 credits for classes like personal finance, negotiations with agents and pro teams, sports communications, alternative pro sport futures, etc in the spring. They sort of have this now with certain degrees but tell them that they don’t have to attend traditional classes in the fall. And if there is a true student athlete who wants to study civil engineering, then that athlete would be a double major. And then do the same for basketball. The only problem is football and basketball will probably be asked to subsidize all the other Olympic sports as a concession so those athletes have that same opportunity. Maybe this could be a loophole to get around the government because pro football is a trade.

The “student athlete” started to disappear in the 60s and 70s and all but disappeared by the late 90s and early 2000s. Schools like Vandy and Duke can’t claim they are hamstrung by academic requirements. That’s a load of crap and it probably was in the early 90s when Christian Laettner was playing foosball and drinking beer 24-7 and taking classes from a nearby school that would transfer credit to Duke. But right now… no one can claim academics are getting in the way. This is semi pro football. The universities should even pitch that these kids not even attend class but rather commit to being a sports marketing representative for the university. That’s unless they really want to go to school and learn.

although the revenue for bball wouldn’t sniff what football would do. As long as the schools all stay in the same conferences and don’t do the weird ND independent approach, I guess that could work albeit a bit hypocritical on the power school’s approach.

ND is all about football independence. If, hypothetically speaking, ND has the magic formula and wins the next 2 or 3 natties and then in 4 to 10 years the SEC and Big 18 say bye bye to the NCAA and the ACC and Big 12 are shells of themselves, would ND go independent if the new super conference leagues mirrored that of the NFL setup? If not, I guess ND will go out with a bang.

Of course this is spitballing. K-State isn’t exactly southern but they need a spot. And there are a lot of schools absent like WSU, Oregon State, Pitt, Syracuse, BC, Wake, Duke and a decent contingent of the newer Big12 schools. BIG 28 Rutgers Penn State Maryland Virginia North Carolina Virginia Tech NC State Ohio State Michigan Michigan State Indiana Purdue Northwestern Illinois Iowa Wisconsin Minnesota Nebraska Colorado Iowa State Kansas UCLA USC Washington Oregon California Stanford Utah SEC 28 Miami Florida State Georgia Tech Clemson South Carolina West Virginia Louisville Florida Georgia Tennessee Vanderbilt Kentucky Alabama Auburn Mississippi Mississippi State Louisiana State Arkansas Missouri Kansas State Oklahoma State Texas A&M Texas Oklahoma Texas Tech Baylor Arizona Arizona State

You may end up being the richest “NCAA” program in 4 to 10 years.

are way more entertaining even though it feels like the fix is in with most of their games and you can almost predict the outcomes. Their fans are loud. ESPN mics up their bands to make them obnoxiously loud. There always seems to be some spectacular play. Even though the score of a game is 3-3 at the end of the 3rd, the final ends up 38-31 after the 2nd OT. And college football is a religion in the SEC. Disney and ESPN already love them and it’s a matter of time before there is a break. The SEC won’t do this until the Big 18 is ready though. The SEC and Big 18 need a set up like the old AFL and NFL where the SEC can play only SEC teams and the Big 18 can only play Big 18 teams, with only one College Super Bowl game when the SEC plays the Big 18. I think the SEC and Big 18 need 4 divisions each in their conferences. To go to 4 5-team divisions, the Big 18 just needs 2 ACC schools and the SEC needs 4 schools from either the ACC or Big 12. They might have to go bigger than 20 teams (24 or even 28) though because the ACC will need to properly implode if it happens before the ACC GoR renewal date.

sports as part of the NCAA if there were a football breakaway?

If and most likely when the Big 18 and SEC break away from the NCAA, there will be more losers in college football than winners. I’m a capitalist and love free market, but you may find yourself outside looking in when all the cards fall. Of course, the day the Big 18 and SEC split from the NCAA will be the day the Irish will grovel to be in the Big 18 in ALL sports. In that case, no cap benefits you greatly.

more than to save their conferences. The next 4 to 6 years (whenever the next wave of conference destruction takes place) will be a beauty contest where the prettiest football schools will be invited to either the SEC or Big 18. Not sure what those qualifications will be anymore because everything seems on the table. Five to six years ago I would have automatically assumed those schools would be the large flagship and land grant schools with rabid football fans. Now I’m not convinced that Clemson, Virginia Tech and NC State have any better shot at achieving SEC or Big 18 status as SMU, Duke and Stanford do. NIL and the transfer portal have destroyed predictability and any schools ability to build a team over sustainable long periods. To your point about the SEC invincibility myth, I think SEC dominance will return. Those schools have way too much money and pride to be usurped by the “lower” power conferences. Football is a religion down there and they will figure out how to stay on top, much the way the Big 18 will. I just hope my Hokies aren’t left in the dust playing in the AAC with Memphis and ECU a decade from now.

in the ACC. If we played everyone were playing now with no ND it would be every bit as competitive. I’d rather have UMCP as a full member.

With a team ranked outside of the top 16, ND is #16 and say Iowa State for example is #15, that would knock #15 ISU out in favor of a lower ranked ND. That sounds like the same crap we’re accustomed to seeing with ND’s special rules. Because of this ND has to be ranked #15 or higher. That’s unless the G5 school is ranked #15, then a #16 ND can get in. If the Big 12 champ, ACC champ and G5 teams are all ranked outside of the top 16 but in the top 25, then ND has to be ranked #13 to get in. I’m loving these special rules. Is this how it feels? It’s kind of empowering. ** Edited by Calamitous at 1/16/2026, 12:37:11 AM

ND independent football is just made for TV money-grabbing TV executives and school administrators. No different than the money grubbing conferences.

for being independent in football. But they have to earn it. They have to play at least 9 power conference teams every year which they do most years. I would say 8, but since they’re not in a conference and will never play in a conference championship game, they have to play 9 power conference teams like any power conference champion would have to. Maybe even make a special rule (since ND is the king of making up special rules) where ND has to play 13 games every 4 years so they get to experience the drain of what a conference champion contender has to go through. No byes in the playoffs except for any year they play 13 games and finish top 4 or better. If still a 12 team playoff, they cannot get in over a higher ranked school. This and ND has to go independent in ALL sports if football independence is so scared to them. They need to be honest with themselves that they need zero conference support if they remain independent in football.

Don’t let being a Catholic school fool you. ND and greed are the same thing. Independence should never be outlawed. But any one entity (i.e. a university like ND) who clams to be independent should never pose as independent in just one thing but grovel for all their other things to be included in a “greed induced collective” like the Big East or ACC. Go full on independent in ALL sports. Stop being a hypocrite Notre Dame.

non-football sports. ND has big cash. Use that cash to go independent in ALL sports.