Media by Associated Press – Alabama head coach Nick Saban speaks during NCAA college football Southeastern Conference Media Days Tuesday, July 19, 2022, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Keeping Notre Dame from joining a conference was always going to involve someone providing financial support to keep the school on competitive terms with the teams in the SEC and Big Ten.
Reports are that NBC may be willing to pay up to $75 million annually to keep the Fighting Irish from getting involved in the conference football realignment cycle currently going on. Most importantly for Notre Dame, this deal would put them on even footing financially with their SEC competition.
Also, this will allow Notre Dame to maintain independence with scheduling, a long-time concern of the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame has several long-standing rivalries — with Navy and USC especially — that could be lost if that flexibility was taken away.
While the Fighting Irish aren’t what they once were, Brian Kelly proved you can still win there. Now, future coaches will have the money behind them to do so.
Flop away
As college football evolves into faster-paced offenses, there has been a criticism levied against players who may appear to “fake” an injury during a game. While many were hoping there would be some sort of way to halt potential flopping, the SEC coordinator of officials threw cold water on the idea at SEC media days.
Jon McDaid said at a press conference that they have been trying to find a solution for the past four years. However, he doesn’t feel it is fair to put officials in charge of determining which injury is real or fake, as they are not trained medical officials.
He’s not wrong in that perspective. What this will come down to is coaches and players having the integrity to change the issue.
ACC hopes to keep up
The ACC may be getting nervous about the movement involving the Big Ten and SEC. Several ACC schools — UNC, Virginia, Clemson, Florida State, and Miami — have all been rumored as having potential to flee to another conference for more money. ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said at their media days that everything is available to the league.
Phillips said the ACC isn’t necessarily targeting anyone through expansion but would love to add Notre Dame.
Saban talks about not retiring
Alabama coach Nick Saban didn’t want to entertain retirement talk. Saban told the reporters in the press conference that they should ask all the other coaches about their job status. The 70-year-old Saban is tired of other coaches using his age against him in recruiting.
Savvy recruits, however, likely won’t be too worried about Saban’s age. Saban is 178-25 during his time with the Crimson Tide, including a 103-16 mark in SEC play.
They have won six national championships during his tenure. Alabama last won the national championship in 2020. In 2021, the Crimson Tide won the SEC but lost the national championship to Georgia.
A prolonged divorce
Oklahoma and Texas are officially set to become members of the SEC as of July 1, 2025. While SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey wouldn’t tip his hand on if it could occur any earlier, he said the conference would happily welcome the two schools on that date.
Texas and Oklahoma need to provide the Big 12 with 18 months’ notice of their intention to leave the league plus an $80 million buyout. Many expect the Longhorns and Sooners to negotiate a deal so they can leave sooner.
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