I would rather see ND have a home playoff game but have to smile thinking that Jack Swarbrick is a pretty crafty guy. He made the bye "concession" as part of the playoff expansion to 12 teams. After one year, "poof" it is gone.

to them after they crush the other Conferences is most amazing to me. It just doesn’t happen one time either, it happens every time. Though I don’t like it, I have to admit it is extraordinary to watch ND play them like a fiddle. PS I do hope we go to 16 in 2026 so no one gets a bye, but please get rid of these a$inine play in games and let all teams play on week zero against crushed Out of Conference Rivalry games, they will make more $, and it evens out the number of games everyone plays in a season. The latest OOC rivalry lost being ND and USC. Then let Army Navy have the weekend after Thanksgiving alone, like they want. However, that makes way too much $ense for them to actually do it.

The Big Ten doesn't want ND to join the SEC or ACC. The ACC doesn't want ND to join the Big Ten or SEC. Triangulation. A stable gravitational Lagrange point between conferences. The three conferences don't want ND to join A conference. They want ND to join THEIR conference. ND has found the sweet spot for football independence balancing those three conferences against each other. ** Edited by TerryD at 5/24/2025, 7:01:14 AM

It’s not stable, and there’s little balance. The B1G, SEC and ACC will keep moving and changing regardless of ND’s position. They don’t want to JUST add ND. They JUST want to add.

ND is still independent, still on the playoff board with ten conferences, still eligible for the playoffs and now eligible for a bye, despite all of these changes you mentioned over all of these years. Voodoo?

Conference realignment doesn’t adhere to the laws of physics. I just read your post about ‘triangulation’ of 3 bodies causing stability to a 4th party and the inner geek in me revolted.

In fact, they'd probably be willing to offer ND the "ACC Package" if the ACC implodes.

ACC & Big 12: "We'll agree to straight seeding, but conference champs need to be paid like a bye, ranked no lower than 8th, have a home game, and automatic conference bids have to be dropped." Big 10 & SEC: "Paid like a bye is only one we will agree on." ACC & Big 12: "Oh, ok." ** Edited by HouClone at 5/23/2025, 2:09:17 PM

in this year like the other Conferences if they make the top 4. The so called stupid play in games are not supposed to start until next year. I wonder who Jim “Dame” Phillips was talking about when he said it might not be good for the conference, but sometimes you have to do what’s good for the game? It couldn’t possibly be Notre Dame, could it? 😳