ATLANTA -- As bits of red and white tissue paper exploded from confetti cannons into the air Monday night in celebration of Ohio State winning the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua had the unique position of participating in the historic event from positions of playoff power.
Both men have seats on the CFP's management committee, which includes all 10 FBS commissioners and Bevacqua, and both were at Sunday's 90-minute board meeting to begin a review of the pros and cons of the expanded bracket.
The future of the playoff was only one topic, though, that created buzz throughout the industry in Atlanta. There are some rising stars at Ohio State and Notre Dame as both immediately turn their attention to returning to the CFP in 2025. Indiana coach Curt Cignetti, though, would like a word -- and he'll get one here. So will the ACC commissioner, who might have hinted at how he feels about automatic qualifiers in the playoff.
Here's what people were talking about in the hallways and lobbies during the course of four days in the epicenter of college football.
Jump to a topic:
Playoff play-in games?
Seeding change?
Big Ten, SEC to meet
Buckeyes O-line loaded for '25
Transfer window causing angst
Bettis legacy at Notre Dame
Private equity
What's next for Indiana?
Playoff play-in games?
Following hours of meetings with presidents, chancellors and commissioners on Saturday, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips told a small group of reporters his league would discuss giving its regular-season champion a bye, and then the teams that finished second or third in the league standings would play in the ACC title game. He said another possibility is having the top four teams play on the final weekend of the regular season: No. 1 vs. No. 4 and No. 2 vs. No. 3, with the winners playing the following Saturday for the ACC title.
The quiet part out loud was Phillips' concession that "part of the impetus of thinking about something like that" is automatic qualifiers for the playoff, starting in 2026. There's no reason to make such a significant change to the ACC title game -- or any others for that matter -- if the league's No. 2 team isn't guaranteed a playoff bid.
If the ACC and Big 12 each get two guaranteed teams in a 14-team field, it's likely the SEC and Big Ten would push for four teams each. Leaders within the Big Ten have long discussed automatic qualifiers and determining on the field who gets them and how. Before anyone -- including the Power 4 conferences -- determines how to produce the best playoff teams, though, the commissioners first need to decide what the playoff will look like in 2026 and beyond.
Sources said the 3-3-2-2 model (3 Big Ten, 3 SEC, 2 ACC, 2 Big 12) has been taken off the table. The Big Ten and SEC, which have the bulk of control over the future playoff format, will continue these discussions at a joint meeting in February.
Phillips isn't alone in his belief that conference champions need to continue to be honored in the next iteration of the playoff. Whether that comes in the form of a first-round bye or just guaranteed access remains a question.
"Conference championships are a big deal," said Mid-American Conference commissioner Jon Steinbrecher. "For five teams, they're an entry point into this event, and we don't want to lose sight of that. It makes it incredibly important."
Seeding change in 2025?
If there's one thing the 10 FBS commissioners and Bevacqua might be able to unanimously agree on for 2025, it could be changing how the 12 playoff teams are seeded on Selection Day. The most feedback surrounding the 12-team format was about the seeding, which gave the Big Ten and SEC champs a more difficult path through the bracket than their runners-up. It also allowed for a lower-ranked team such as No. 12 Arizona State, the Big 12 champion, to earn a first-round bye over higher-ranked playoff participants.
"We had good intentions for doing things the way we did things," one FBS commissioner said, "but when you actually have real-life examples and see how they pan out, we may need to look at that."
To make any changes for next season, though, the 10 FBS commissioners and Bevacqua have to unanimously agree on them. They met in Atlanta but tabled the "meatier" discussions until a Feb. 25 meeting in Dallas. They will also discuss giving the committee's top four teams the first-round byes instead of conference champions -- something that has been at least publicly divisive and that one source said could be one of the "many politically interesting conversations we'll have."
SEC and Big Ten to hold meeting
Sources said leaders from the SEC and Big Ten will meet for a day in New Orleans to discuss the future CFP format and overall NCAA governance.
"Ultimately the alliance just keeps getting stronger," one athletic director said. "We've got so many like minds in that room, we've got to figure out now that we've already had one meeting -- and a lot has happened between then and now -- how to figure out the next steps to stabilize things, and we have some real initiatives coming out of there that can help us move towards July 1."
Athletic directors in both conferences have expressed a desire to their respective commissioners to push for four automatic qualifiers each in a 14-team expanded playoff, a 4-4-2-2 model that would assure the SEC and Big Ten four teams each and the ACC and Big 12 two teams each, plus one guaranteed spot for the Group of 5 and one true at-large bid.
It's hardly the only model being discussed, though. One source involved in the discussions said there are some who want more than four guaranteed teams, and another option is more of a risk-reward formula that would have fewer than four teams each.
The conversations are still fluid, but the idea is to give Petitti and Sankey some of the most preferred options as they head into the CFP meetings a few days later.
Sources indicate there's no talk right now of the two leagues separating from the rest of the NCAA, but at the same time, the leagues are looking for a balance between autonomy to do what they want and working together with the rest of the NCAA members.
"It's kind of a tough needle to thread," one person said.
Buckeyes bringing back plenty on offensive line
National champion Ohio State will replace quarterback Will Howard next season, and while backup Julian Sayin might have already won the job in the court of public opinion, those within the program are more reserved in their proclamations.
"Nobody knows right now," one source said.
What they do know is the new signal-caller is expected to have a talented offensive line to help keep him upright -- and deep enough that the Buckeyes could rotate eight "really good players" into the game if they had to.
Ohio State landed Ethan Onianwa, one of the nation's top offensive tackles, from Rice, and Ohio native Phillip Daniels from Minnesota, where he was a starting right tackle. Those two, along with rising sophomore Ian Moore, have a legitimate shot to be full-time starters. Left guard Luke Montgomery returns, along with Austin Siereveld, right guard Tegra Tshabola and center Carson Hinzman. Rising sophomore Gabe VanSickle is also a very talented young player, and he and Moore are on the same trajectory as Montgomery and Siereveld.
While the transfer portal gave the unit an immediate boost, the younger players are the kind the staff likes to develop and could wind up being like redshirt senior Josh Fryar.
If, of course, they all stick around through this week's transfer portal window.
Transfer window causing angst
Earlier this month, the FBS coaches unanimously voted in favor of a proposal that would reduce college football's transfer window to a single, 10-day period in January. It would go into effect for the 2025-26 academic year.
It's not a guarantee, as it has to ultimately be approved by the NCAA Division I council. How big of a deal is it?
"If the transfer window doesn't get reset, coaches are going to be fed up and may start bailing," one Power 4 head coach said.
Jerome Bettis talks about son following him to Notre Dame
Before the national title game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, NFL Hall of Famer and Notre Dame alum Jerome Bettis roamed the sidelines taking pictures and shaking hands -- with his son, Notre Dame commit Jerome Bettis Jr., watching from the first row of stands right above him.
Unlike his father, nicknamed "The Bus" for bulldozing people from the running back position, Bettis Jr. is a receiver -- and at around 6-foot-2, he's taller than his dad (5-11). It's one way he already has separated himself from his famous father's footsteps, although he's following the same path.
"The challenge is allowing them to develop on their own," Bettis said. "You have to. What you want to do is you want to give them the pathway, but they've got to go out there and earn the opportunity. You show them -- you try to give them all the information you can -- but at the end of the day, they have to go out there and work hard. It's ultimately going to be their success and their failures. And the important part for them to understand and [for us] to impress upon them -- I can only help you. I cannot make you the player that you will be."
Private equity
On the day of the national championship game, there was a closed-door, private equity event hosted by JohnWallStreet at the W Atlanta Hotel from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. There were presentations from RedBird Capital chief operating partner Mark Dowley, multiple panels featuring conference commissioners, and, according to the company's website, the audience included senior officials from the NCAA, Big 12, Mountain West Conference, American Athletic Conference, ACC, SEC, Bowl Season and the Big Ten.
Individual tickets to the event cost $1,994 and included a "complimentary report on the opportunities and challenges for college athletic programs around private capital."
One source who attended the meeting said it was more informative and educational than a directive on what to do -- or not to do.
And yet ...
"I certainly believe that by this time next year there will be conferences that will have done deals -- maybe they're private-equity-focused, maybe there's a different model," an industry source said, "but there's not a chance in hell another year's going to go by with someone not tapping into some kind of third-party money."
Indiana expectations
So, whaddaya do for an encore, Cignetti?
After the best season in school history and the school's first CFP appearance, Indiana's coach said he's right back to work with the same expectations he had entering his first season: keep winning.
"We have high standards and expectations," Cignetti said. "It's no different than any other season."
But it might have raised the bar for other first-year coaches.
Cignetti said the transfer portal has played a role in expediting how quickly coaches can rebuild programs.
"I think with the advent of the portal and free agency, turnarounds can happen quicker," he said. "Of course, I did one at Elon, my second job, 2-10 and they're 8-1 after nine games. That was before the portal, but I think the portal has lent itself to a quicker turnaround. You've still got to know what you're doing and get the right people on the bus."