Tailgate Guru

If modern college football began in the 1970s, the only time SMU has been a player on the national scene is during the Pony Excess years. This is a program that plays in a 32,000 seat stadium in the middle of a football mad metroplex. It’s Boston College in a larger metropolitan area with a better run of recent success and more wealthy backers willing to pay the bills. Put aside Texas and Texas A&M. SMU has been regularly passed over in favor of Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU and Houston. So it is the 7th biggest brand in its state and no better than the fourth biggest brand in its own metropolitan area, after the Horns, Aggies and Frogs. I appreciate SMU’s efforts. But adding SMU was a short sighted money grab.

SMU bought plenty of talent back then. Eric Dickerson, Craig James, Michael Carter and others. All it got SMU was a loss in the Holiday Bowl and one or two trips to the Cotton Bowl. I don’t want to throw pot shots at SMU but the fact of the matter is SMU plays in a 32,000 seat stadium. Not enough people in Dallas care to warrant anything more, no matter how much the fat cats spend. SMU will never be Miami, the team in a city that recruits local talent and creates a certain swagger and national following. Until Miami strings together a couple more seasons, I am not convinced Miami will ever be Miami again. It’s a good school. It has an interesting athletic history. It’s in a big city. But it has nothing whatsoever in common with the ACC nor any of the ACC members that would like to elevate football. If SMU was all that, SMU would have been playing Big 12 football years ago. Yet, the Big 12 passed in favor of Texas Tech, Baylor, TCU and Houston. What does that tell you?

Until then, there is no evidence that SMU makes an impact in DFW or in Texas, more generally. No offense, but until SMU demonstrates that it has big time support, it’s just another school with a good run of seasons, like Marshall, Boise or JMU, that happens to have somewhat higher academic standards and more wealthy benefactors. Until people pay attention to SMU in DFW and Texas more generally, it has no resonance on a national scale.

Texas is the Longhorns, the Aggies and everyone else. The ACC could add Texas Tech, Houston, TCU, Baylor and create a Texas division and it would not make a real blip in Texas and certainly not outside Texas. None of those schools, nor SMU, has a national profile to match half of the rest of the Big 12.

Texas Tech has good programs and has had a few moments, but just because the Red Raiders had one great season last year does not make them Longhorns or even Aggies.

The ACC really has no part of the Texas market now and it sure isn’t going to get part of it by adding Texas Tech. If the ACC was to add a program from the Big 12, the list of programs more sensible and attractive than Texas Tech is long. In no particular order, West Virginia. Utah. BYU. Arizona. Arizona State. Kansas. Colorado. Houston. And probably Oklahoma State and TCU. But before the ACC adds more programs, it needs to get rid of several. And then, it has to have a hard discussion about whether it is worthwhile to keep Cal and Stanford. And if it keeps those schools, smart expansion would bring in some of the strongest schools out west along with WVU, which should have been the ACC’s 12th member ahead of BC and every school that followed. The ACC is never going to be a major player in Texas without the Aggies and Longhorns. Houston is probably the next most attractive Texas program. Maybe if SMU remains in the league, you pair it with TCU in an effort to draw a little interest in DFW.

Traveling to visit my parents. There were plenty of people there, very early. That baseball program has come a very long way. A lot of investment made since joining the Big 12.

Thx

I am concerned about the people who get misled and aren’t bright enough to figure it out.

But if this bozo is doing this elsewhere and just using Tech as a prop, I am wondering why Tech doesn’t have some kind of public statement going full blast right now.

It bothers me that Tech is taking flak for something that it may not have had the ability to control and that whatever did or didn’t happen may or may not be accurately described by what passes for the mainstream today.

There are very prominent people on X - politicians and media - who are criticizing Tech heavily right now for “inviting” a person characterized as highly anti-American to speak. There is a suggestion he spoke at McBryde. A day or two ago Tech responded to rumors about the event in a way that suggested it was just a rumor. I have seen nothing today. I am just curious if this appearance actually happened. Did the guy appear on campus or by video or not at all? Who sponsored the event, if anyone? Or is this all fake news?

Is confusing Kansas with UVA or confusing K State with Virginia Tech.

But if that was going to happen early, it probably would have happened already, right? The people who make these decisions like to have a certain crowd at their cocktail parties and for better or worse, people like our fine university president like having Notre Dame (and Cal and Stanford) being part of that crowd. And someone at Notre Dame realizes they have no better place to go unless they commit to the Big Ten or SEC. So we are stuck with each other a while longer. We get your school’s condescending AD; you get games with Wake and Syracuse.

That’s why Virginia Tech has ACC games against Cal, Stanford and SMU this fall and none against NC State, UNC, Duke or Wake Forest.

And Notre Dame does not want to admit it thinks that way.

But I already knew Notre Dame’s history. And it doesn’t change my view.

The driver already knows where to park.

It’s not hard to schedule just five football games against marquee opponents and none of the rest will be missed. I say that not to throw shade at ND; it’s just the way it is. ESPN could broker five games for the ACC with SEC schools tomorrow. Or with the more marketable Big 12 schools. The entire reason ND wants to be done with the ACC is because it is bound into too many dull matchups. For every Miami or Clemson, it gets a Syracuse or Wake Forest. An ACC-SEC challenge series or even an ACC-Big 12 challenge would make far more sense and cents in the long run for the ACC and give ND the freedom it thinks it wants. ** Edited by Tailgate Guru at 3/27/2026, 9:41:22 AM

ND needs to go off and be a true independent and see how long that nostalgia works for them. Admittedly it has worked longer than it would for any other school with the possible exception of Ohio State and Texas. But the status quo of today will not exist for Notre Dame, Virginia Tech or anyone in between in about five years or so and it would not be prudent for anyone to remain bound by notions from a bygone era.

Two or three home football games per year is not a big deal. Those games could easily be replaced by comparable opponents from the SEC or Big Ten or even the Big 12.

The Big East is fine for men’s basketball and not bad for women’s basketball (so long as Geno keeps coaching). Start looking at other Olympic sports and there is no comparison between the Big East and ACC or Big Ten. The Big 12 and SEC are not as strong in most Olympic sports as the ACC or Big Ten but are still miles ahead of the Big East.

It just doesn’t compete for a conference championship. It thinks it is a member of the ACC when it is convenient and thinks it’s not a member when it is not convenient. But it still has to play five ACC opponents and doesn’t have full control over who those opponents will be. It’s a matter of semantics at this point. “Independence” is nothing more than a point of pride - a lot of pride, but nothing more than pride. Notre Dame can’t just go out and schedule a full slate of opponents the way it did in 1988. It has to account for the wishes of the ACC and NBC. That’s not independence. That’s marriages of convenience.

I don’t think you can beat a Toyota or Lexus. My 4Runner was 9 and a half years old with 166,000 miles. I hated to see it go, especially because the prices have escalated so much since I bought mine new.

I would be apt to buy a new, leftover 2025 model. Probably EX or SX trim, with or without X Line. My alternatives are a 2026 Honda Passport RTL Towing or a 2025 Nissan Pathfinder either in Platinum or Rock Creek trim.

Don’t you have a Kansas State game to watch?

And it’s rather rich for someone from Big 12 country to be telling us what’s best for the ACC. Stick to your lane.

Of course Tech would probably schedule Notre Dame if it could. And if Notre Dame backed out of the ACC deal, the game would be played in September. The fact that Tech and Notre Dame had never played prior to the current arrangement should give you a clue about how likely Notre Dame would agree to it, so that point is moot. You are correct that things have changed since the ND-ACC deal was cut. The biggest advantage for the ACC was that it helped improve the ACC’s bowl arrangements because the better bowls figure they would get a shot at the Irish now and then. Since the Irish chose to breach that agreement this year and since bowls are slowly fading away, that advantage has greatly diminished. Two or three home games against the Irish helps some with ticket and television revenue. But I suspect one would find that UVa will generate more money for itself and the ACC by playing a neutral site game with West VIrginia in Charlotte than playing Notre Dame In Charlottesville. Same for the Hokies playing South Carolina in Atlanta last year. The road games in South Bend create a little extra exposure for ACC schools but not much money because NBC’s deal tilts the revenue to ND. From the Notre Dame side, the ACC has failed to up its football strength over the life of the deal. It has been impossible to predict what schools will be competitive year in and year out. And so a steady diet of Duke and Syracuse and Wake Forest and underperforming Florida State and Virginia Tech and North Carolina games does not excite anyone there. ESPN owns the ACC. NBC owns Notre Dame and probably wants a bigger piece of Notre Dame. And on average, Notre Dame versus generic Big Ten school will draw better numbers in the seats and on television than Notre Dame versus random ACC school or underperforming Clemson. So it’s no surprise Notre Dame wants out. Those of us who have no interest in an ACC football schedule that includes Cal, Stanford and SMU but not a single Carolina school are not thinking much past 2030 anyway. Maybe we get one more home game with the Irish; maybe none. Either way, if Notre Dame wants out, let them pay the fee and take a hike. But it shouldn’t expect special privileges to be granted by the voting majority of current ACC members no matter what a few select schools might want to do. Let them go. Let them kick rocks.

Every ACC school is free to schedule Notre Dame. But the ACC would and should require those games to be played in September like virtually every other non-conference game. Do you not understand why ND entered into a football arrangement with the ACC in the first place after being a partial member of the Big East with no football arrangement as part of the deal? Conferences and the television networks that own them began controlling the blocks of the schedule when conference games must be played. Notre Dame was stuck playing the service academies and MAC schools in the second half of the season. Miami or Clemson might like to schedule Notre Dame in November. But if the other 15 schools vote against allowing it and/or ESPN vetos it, Miami and Clemson have no say in the matter. ** Edited by Tailgate Guru at 2/9/2026, 8:48:43 PM

Use your head. If ESPN wants two of their properties to play it might make it happen. I think you don’t understand how these things work. Notre Dame only gets an accommodation now because it is a partial member that ESPN gets to show two or three times a year. If the ACC-ND arrangement ends, the ACC and ESPN have no incentive to give the Irish favors.

You might have heard of it. The networks are not going to let Big Ten and SEC schools play those games? Why do you think those leagues expanded? Why do you think the SEC-ACC rivalries continue while Notre Dame-USC does not? It’s not that hard to understand. If the leagues had a long-term future, it might make a lot of sense for the ACC and Big 12 to have some sort of scheduling arrangement where over a week or 2-week period there would be inter-conference matchups. But that is not apt to happen because of the life span of each league’s current iteration and the different television contracts each has. There is zero reason for the ACC and ESPN to throw Notre Dame a one-off bone. That’s why Notre Dame and the ACC have their current arrangement. If that arrangement ends, the Irish can play Clemson and other ACC schools in September like everyone else. It would be foolish to do otherwise.

It’s fine to make room for Clemson-South Carolina and the other traditional SEC in-state rivals, or even Pitt-WVU or SMU-TCU, in the last week of the season but there is no value in doing it for anyone else on the other November dates.

Let Notre Dame join the Big East. Let Notre Dame shack up with the SEC. Two or three home football games is not enough to justify the ACC’s burden of carrying the rest of Notre Dame athletics and keeping the fragile egos of Pete Bevacqua and other Irish folk intact. Notre Dame enjoys a unique place in college football because it has done an impeccable job of creating a perpetual nostalgia campaign based on things that mostly happened a minimum of 38 years ago. It has a diminishing fan base as the number of church-going folk who gravitate to the church’s main football school diminishes. The best thing you can say about Notre Dame football is it tried to use real students longer than most. Notre Dame has nothing in common with the core of the ACC. It never did. It is a northeastern school that somehow exists in an unattractive town in a barren patch of the upper midwest. If you’ve been to a game in South Bend once, you quickly realize that if you aren’t an Irish fan you can come up with about two dozen places that are more enjoyable to visit. So let Notre Dame go. There is no value in a so-called partner that talks down to the rest of its partners, that is mostly non-contributory to the good of the league, etc. half the point of bringing in the Irish was to improve the ACC’s bowl lineup and now ND does not want to play and the bowls are dying anyway. Just spare us all the whining and drivel and crap. Just go away.