Tag Archives: Notre Dame

Restarting College Football From Scratch: Which 120 Schools Would Sponsor Football?

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Is Your School One of the 120 Best Equipped to Play College Football?

Is Your School One of the 120 Best Equipped to Play College Football in Today’s Landscape?

Back in March, SB Nation’s Jason Kirk took a look at an interesting question: Where would you place a college football program if you were starting one completely from scratch? The considerations included current program geography, potential fan bases and to some degree, recruiting as well. Using these factors, both Jason and the commenters (myself included) recommended a flurry of current and hypothetical universities, with no clear choice above the rest. As it is the offseason, this is quite the entertaining exercise.

But taking that idea a step further, what if we decided to start the whole thing from scratch? Blow up the current college football landscape — structure, traditions, records, existing programs, etc. — and just completely start fresh. The only hard-and-fast rule? We’re choosing 120 schools, all of which either currently sponsor Division-1 or -II NCAA athletics and/or have an institutional endowment over $1 billion. Additionally, to narrow the consideration pool down a bit, I avoided all schools with less than 5,000 students, since it’s highly unlikely they’d be able to support football from a talent or fan standpoint (at the collegiate game’s highest level anyway).

Using these factors as guides, I built an available pool of 318 schools, and compiled the following information for each:

  • Endowment: In many cases, endowments are a nice measuring stick of a school’s ability to raise money. Since college football programs cost money and need similar fundraising to function, this should certainly come into play when considering a school’s ability to sponsor the sport.
  • Enrollment: It’s not the end-all, be-all of whether you can sponsor football, but fan support usually starts with students. If you don’t even have 7,000 students on campus, how are you supposed to draw more than 20,000 to Saturday’s game?
  • State Recruiting Ranking: This is a big one, because it examines how sustainable football is from a local recruiting level. If you’re a big school, but have no local base, that means you’re utilizing a national strategy. Likewise, if you’re a mid-size school, but exist in a large local base, you still have a significant chance of recruiting success.
  • Public/Private: Obviously, there are more public schools than private schools at the FBS level today, and in our setup, that’ll still be the case. Private schools won’t be eliminated from consideration at all, but if a decision must be made between a private school and public school, the public school will win out. Public institutions have an easier road toward attracting local talent, and in many cases support too, so that was taken into consideration on a few choice occasions.

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ACC Football Recruiting Class of 2014 Rankings Update

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Virginia-Commit Quin Blanding is the ACC's Top Recruit So Far for 2014

Virginia-Commit Quin Blanding is the ACC’s Top Recruit So Far for 2014

Sure, we’re still more than three months from the start of the 2013 college football season, but since teams are currently recruiting for 2014, there are actually things to keep track of on that front. Like always, recruiting rankings mean absolutely nothing, especially when they’re compiled with nine months remaining in the recruiting period and no hard, binding letters signed yet. Still, it’s fun to see where teams stand, and if your school’s doing well, you get to give yourself a badge of pride for an afternoon (or whatever else you might do to get enjoyment out of this).

Below you’ll find a breakdown of ACC recruiting rankings from Rivals, 247Sports and Scout, as well as a breakdown of ACC players currently ranked in the ESPN 150 (there is no ESPN 300 for 2014 yet).

ACC Football 2014 Recruiting Rankings (May 9)

Each service compiles rankings with a different scoring system, using the total number of points accumulated per school to decide their rank compared to all other classes. However, this also provides an unfair advantage to larger classes, emphasizing quantity over quality. With that in mind, we also included averages, to account for high-quality, smaller classes. For school with large classes right now, like Florida State and Louisville, the overall rankings are an advantageous figure. But for schools with just one recruit thus far, like Pittsburgh and Wake Forest, it hurts — which is where the averages come in. Also note that while Scout and Rivals use the standard “stars” system (1-5), 247Sports has an algorithm out of 100 that they explain on their site. Under “composite” below, you’ll find the average ranking score for each school (using both total score and average score), so we can get a much fuller picture on the quality of respective classes using a variety of methods.

TEAM Total Players Scout (pts) Scout (avg) Rivals (pts) Rivals (avg) 247 (pts) 247 (avg) Composite
Miami 7 10 13 (3.43) 12 12 (3.67) 13 11 (90.71) 11.83
Clemson 5 22 15 (3.4) 17 6 (3.8) 27 20 (89.6) 17.83
Florida State 9 12 35 (2.89) 7 24  (3.44) 9 22 (89.44) 18.17
Virginia Tech 8 21 48 (2.14) 16 35 (3.29) 16 38 (87.63) 29.00
Louisville 11 28 47 (2.18) 11 42 (3.09) 11 47 (85.64) 31.00
Virginia 4 27 60 (1.75) 25 2 (4) 36 28 (88.25) 31.33
North Carolina 7 31 50 (2) 21 43 (3) 24 49 (85.14) 36.33
Maryland 3 55 30 (3) 42 33 (3.33) 51 43 (86.33) 42.33
Duke 6 35 45 (2.33) 63 46 (3) 29 45 (85.83) 43.83
Boston College 8 54 77 (.25) 28 63 (2.83) 21 57 (84.13) 50.00
Pittsburgh 1 60 31 (3) 63 58 (3) 71 36 (88) 53.17
Syracuse 2 64 57 (2) 56 52 (3) 75 78 (78) 63.67
Georgia Tech 2 67 68 (1) 63 55 (3) 67 65 (81.50) 64.17
NC State 3 69 62 (1.67) 63 70 (2.5) 60 71 (80.67) 65.83
Wake Forest 1 88 88 (-1) 74 77 (2) 82 74 (79) 80.50

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ACC Football Scheduling: How Can the ACC Better Position Itself for a Playoff Spot?

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Examining Strength of Schedule and What ACC Teams Need to Do to Make the Playoff

Examining Strength of Schedule and What ACC Teams Need to Do to Make the Playoff

As you might’ve noticed earlier today, we linked to a piece from SB Nation’s Team Speed Kills entitled “How Much Will Schedule Strength Affect Playoff Selection?” — which effectively dissects the merits (or lack thereof) of scheduling tougher in order to get a playoff spot. The impetus for such an article, of course, is the flurry of recent news regarding the number of conference games. When announcing its divisional realignment the other day, the Big Ten upped its conference slate to nine games, while the Pac-12 is actually discussing moving down to eight (from the current nine). Even the SEC, which has been with the ACC in the “remain at eight” boat briefly mentioned a nine-game schedule during its SEC Network press conference today. So with two alternatives seemingly on the table again, what scheduling setup makes the most sense for the ACC if it hopes to place its top team(s) in the four-team College Football Playoff?

To start, the ACC obviously has two disadvantages when it comes to pursuing a nine-game conference schedule. One of these — out-of-conference rivalries — is a shared issue with the SEC. The other, unique to the ACC, is the Notre Dame scheduling agreement. As of 2014, at least four ACC schools will have annual in-state matchups with SEC schools on the books, effectively locking them (Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville) into a ninth game on top of the eight-game conference schedule. The Notre Dame arrangement, which has the Irish playing five ACC games per year, brings that total to 10 for those teams in select years. Those same teams will likely also be at five home games and five road games by that point, making for a less-than-ideal scheduling demand of two guaranteed home dates and little calendar flexibility. If the ACC were to add a ninth game, those teams would be locked into 11 games against major-conference competition, and might also need to take a hit on home games (hosting six total, instead of seven). For schools like FSU and Clemson, it’s a tough financial hit to take, especially without an ACC Network off the ground yet.

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Atlantic Coast Convos Far-Too-Early 2013 Top 25 (May 1)

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Could Stanford Challenge Alabama for the National Championship This Season? Stranger Things Have Happened

Could Stanford Challenge Alabama for the National Championship This Season?

College football has always been based in part upon random guessing about who’s better, so you’ll likely find little issue with this early top 25 poll based on nothing but speculation and a fear of Nick Saban. Who finishes below the terrifying Tide however, is largely up for debate, which is why we filled out the second through 24th spots to the best of our abilities. If nothing else, use this as a reminder that we’re getting closer to kickoff. Disagree with any (or all) of the below? Protest away in the comments.

Atlantic Coast Convos 2013 Top 25 (May 1)

1. Alabama Crimson Tide (Last: 1)

2. Stanford Cardinal (Last: 2)

3. Texas A&M Aggies (Last: 3)

4. Ohio State Buckeyes (Last: 8)

5. Oregon Ducks (Last: 4)

6. Georgia Bulldogs (Last: 5)

7. South Carolina Gamecocks (Last: 6)

8. Clemson Tigers (Last: 7)

9. Louisville Cardinals (Last: 10)

10. Texas Longhorns (Last: 9)

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Build a Better Offseason: College Football Fan Recommendations for the Week of April 29

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Stone' Sublimely Self Righteous Ale Would Be a Perfect Pairing With Saturday's Kentucky Derby

Stone’ Sublimely Self Righteous Ale Would Be a Perfect Pairing With Saturday’s Kentucky Derby

College football’s offseason is a little over three months old already, but that means there’s still five months until the 2013 season. It’s an eternity for any college football fan, and while many of us indulge in watching other sports, it just can’t compare to Fall Saturdays.

With that in mind, we bring you the latest installment of our weekly feature, “Build a Better Offseason.” Every seven days or so, we’ll provide recommendations on what to do with all your free time now that you’re not all-consumed by college football, specifically focusing on beers, books, movies and other, non-college football sporting events. There’s also “this week in shame,” which you can view at the bottom of each piece.

Beer

Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale, by Stone Brewing Company in Escondido, CA (Black IPA, 8.7% ABV)

Stone’s aptly named beers — especially the IPAs — usually smack you in the mouth with rich, hoppy flavor, and this one’s no exception. Thick and floral, the Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale seems to create the perfect balance between aggressive hops and some delicious malt. Personally, I’d say the best place to give this one a whirl is at the actual brewery down in Escondido (just north of San Diego proper). But if that’s unrealistic for you, Stone beers are pretty generally available from your local distributor everywhere but West Texas, the Dakotas and Montana. In Southern California specifically, though, you have the best chance of finding it in 22-oz. bottles, four-packs or on draft (very select locations).

Book

“Under the Tarnished Dome,” by Don Yaegar and Douglas Looney (1994)

By no means is this book a perfect examination of Notre Dame football in the 80s and 90s, but if you want a real, uncensored glimpse at how the program returned to prominence under former coach Lou Holtz, this is probably your best bet. Admittedly, there’s a lot more Holtz smearing that goes on there than anything else, but at the same time, you get to experience how his personality flaws as a coach greatly altered the foundations of the Fighting Irish. Rather than indulging in the typical Notre Dame myth-making, the book chooses to cast these notions aside in the pursuit of something sinister. With first-person accounts from over 120 former players, the claims here carry some mighty weight. If you’re an Irish fan, I’d avoid, but for others, it’s an interesting look at the program’s rarely-examined faults (some of which still apply today).

Movie

Raging Bull (1980)

I’d argue (probably to minimal resistance) that Raging Bull was Robert DeNiro’s best role, really for a variety of reasons. His character, Jake LaMotta, is a many-layered, flawed one, who takes and gives punishment to an equally-astounding extreme. For director Martin Scorsese and cinematographer Michael Chapman, the key is capturing the raw power of these moments without losing out on the complex human element — something they do to perfection in every single frame. More than just a sports movie (it would not have received its acclaim to-date if it could be boiled down to that simple a concept), it’s a movie about what drives an individual, for better or worse.

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Breaking: ACC Set to Announce Grant of Rights Deal Through 2027 (Updated)

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The ACC's Grant of Rights Will Lock in All Teams Through 2027... Goodbye, Realignment Talk!

The ACC’s Grant of Rights Will Lock in All Teams Through 2027… Goodbye, Realignment Talk!

So, remember all those times when the ACC was pretty much dead? Well, so much for that…

As reported by ACC Sports Journal’s David Glenn and The Daily Press’s David Teel, it looks like the ACC is set to announce a grant of media rights agreement through 2027. Such a deal would lock in media revenues from broadcast rights through 2027 for all teams except Notre Dame‘s football program. So, if a school wanted to leave for what used to be perceived as a “better” deal with the Big Ten or Big 12, that benefit’s now moot, since that school would surrender 14 years of revenues.

Obviously, fans of the league have been calling for this type of move for some time, as it basically builds a fence around the current membership (similar to what the Big 12 did a couple years back). With such a long deal, too, the ACC suddenly drops to the bottom of any potential expansion list, since no school can afford to give up a decade-and-a-half of revenues. Effectively, with the two most “vulnerable” leagues (ACC and Big 12) locked up for the foreseeable future, the conference realignment circus looks to be dead, at least in terms of the five major conferences.

We’ll be able to provide more information once the announcement is official and we see the agreement’s details in their entirety. It’s a great day for the ACC and all of its members, and in my own opinion, the perfect segue for an ACC Network to get up and running. With media rights locked in for such an extended period of time, there’s less risk and more value than ever before in undertaking such an endeavor.

Thoughts? These are just some of my initial reactions, and would love to discuss it all further with folks in the comments. We’ll also leave you with this image, courtesy of @TheKeyPlay.

UPDATED: CBS notes that payouts per-school will now be at $20 million annually. This is huge, and with the ACC Network still in the wings, suddenly, the conference is looking much more competitive from a revenue standpoint. The grant of rights agreement also removes the previous exit fee (three times the operating budget).

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Notre Dame, ACC Announce Football Opponents Rotation for 2014 Through 2016 Seasons

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Syracuse and Notre Dame Will Face Off Twice in the First Three Years of the ACC Scheduling Arrangement

Syracuse & Notre Dame Face Off Twice in the First Three Years of the ACC Scheduling Arrangement

The big news out of Notre Dame‘s camp today (after yesterday’s announcement regarding the NBC contract extension) is the rotation of ACC football opponents for the 2014 through 2016 seasons. As a quick refresher, the Fighting Irish will play five ACC teams per season going forward, and with 14 conference teams, there’s no simple rotation available. Still, per the release today, the schedule will look like this (dates TBD):

2014

Home: Louisville, North Carolina, Wake Forest
Road: Florida State, Syracuse

2015

Home: Boston College, Georgia Tech
Road: Clemson, Pittsburgh, Virginia

2016

Home: Duke, Miami, Virginia Tech
Road: NC State, Syracuse

… we took a crack at figuring what the schedule would look like about a month ago, and while we swung and missed on several of these (understandably so — there were a lot of options to go with), we did correctly guess that Syracuse would be doubled up on the first rotation. This is likely due to the Meadowlands arrangement that’s already in place, rather than a favoritism toward facing the Orange (if anything, I’m sure ND would rather play BC or Pitt more often than the others).

So while that all appears pretty cut-and-dry, it actually ends up leading to a few more questions: Who gets doubled up on the rotation’s next go-around? Will it have to be a high-profile team (FSU, Clemson, Georgia Tech, VaTech) or one playing at a neutral site? And where will these games be televised? Assuming ESPN, for sure, on these Notre Dame road games. But what of the home games? Are they all just automatically sent over to NBC?

The Irish also have to spend some time clearing room on the 2014 schedule, with one more game left to go after they removed Arizona State. I’d bet the pick there is Rice, but at the same time, the Owls would be one of Notre Dame’s only breaks in what’s otherwise a monster slate of major-conference teams.

Thoughts? Complaints? Sour grapes over Syracuse getting two games in this rotation despite being one of the “new guys?” Share your commentary below.

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