Because I am a fossil I can't link. But I have compiled a page of recent cites from people like Bill Hancock, Rob Mullins, Commissioner Swofford, and Jack S. in sites as diverse as 247 Sports, Augusta Free Press, ESPN, Elevenwarriors.com, Forbes, SBNation, and SlaptheSign/Fansided which support the above. Nevertheless Swarby knows this is a moving target and has thrown out the 13th game idea for all teams without a conference title game, which apparently did not resonate at the CFB midwinter meetings in early January. Nor did the idea of expanding the playoff. Time will tell as money drives everything.

One thing I found interesting is the strength of Swofford's support of ND's partial ACC membership. He ought to. ND's affilition has upped the ACC's ESPN TV take by a bundle, not to mention the exposure they get playing in Rockne's House. ND's inclusion of virtually every other sport has made the ACC a preeminent conference and grown its geographical identity. One of the articles points out that ND plays a full rotation of teams in football in a significantly shorter time (3 years) than the average SEC team plays all their league teams (6 years). If ND did not have the national cache that independence brings, we might be less attractive to the ACC.