VIRGINIA MIGHT HAVE LOST ON PRE-KICKOFF DECISION

 Trying To Catch Up (Again) … at least we’re going to try …

On ABC Saturday night, before Virginia and Duke 

seemingly made sure the ACC would not be represented 

in the college football playoffs, SEAN McDONOUGH 

and GREG McELROY said what many (most?) Cavalier 

fans had to be thinking.

To paraphrase:

Is TONY ELLIOTT out of his mind? What could the 

UVA coach be thinking … winning the coin toss and 

electing to defer … instead of taking the ball, kicking off 

and, as it turned out, helping the five-loss Blue Devils to 

an early lead?

Surely Elliott didn’t forget his team’s recent 34-17 victory 

over Duke … in which the Hoos scored on the first 

possession, and the Blue Devils never recovered. He 

didn’t, did he?

Then, despite being out-hit, out-worked, out-coached and 

outplayed, favored UVA somehow scored 10 late points 

to force overtime. The 17th-ranked, regular-season 

champions finally had momentum.

So, what happens? After Duke opens the scoring in OT 

with a fourth-and-goal touchdown pass, when a defensive 

back blows an assignment and leaves the receiver wide, 

WIDE open in the end zone ,,, the Hoos resort to trickery, 

of sorts. Naturally, it backfires

It seemed like every time Virginia went off script, 

attempting some measure of subterfuge, the Blue Devils 

were waiting, in large numbers, resulting in lost yardage. 

Basic football, running off tackle with grad 

student/transfer (Northern Illinois, Wyoming)

 HARRISON WAYLEE  and the ACC’s top rusher, 

transfer J’MARI TAYLOR (who, for reasons the 

network never bothered to explain or probably didn’t 

know, didn’t appear until the second quarter) seemed best 

against a unit missing several regulars.

Anyhow, on first down, QB CHANDLER MORRIS 

pitched the ball to Taylor, who took a few steps to the 

right then threw back 

to Morris who quickly launched the ball for KEKE 

ADAMS only to watch come rushing from the right to 

step in front of the intended receiver to make his first-ever 

INT.

Game over.

Oh, well, at least the ACC does have a team in the 

playoffs after all when the selection committee changed 

its mind and inserted Miami, Fla., over Notre Dame.

Had Virginia won, it would have moved on and Miami 

quite likely have been ommited.

IS THE COLLEGE GAME screwy, or what? Another 

chapter, another verse. 

Unranked Duke, which win or lose wouldn’t be in the 

CFP, had to beat Virginia for the ACC championship for 

11-1 James Madison U., of the Sun Belt to be included in 

the championship playoff … even though, it says here, 

the Dukes of Harrisonburg are good enough to beat about 

half of the field’s 12 teams.

As long as the SEC and Conference Formerly Comprised 

of Ten run the show … and make no mistake, they do … 

the rich will continue to get richer.

Better you should come up with an anonymous 

committee that would make its decisions (a) based 

primarily on the eye test; and (b) without being beholden 

to anyone.

In other words, (cliché alert) let your conscience be your 

guide. And, good luck with that

Surely they can find as few as three candidates who are 

not ethically restricted. Come to think about it, nowadays 

that could be a very real problem.

Never mind.

BY THE WAY … the man generally considered the 

architect of today’s playoff system, a visionary who, as 

commissioner, turned the SEC from a nice group of 

southern schools dominated by BEAR BRYANT and 

Alabama (football) and Kentucky (basketball) into a 

billion-dollar operation that pretty much rules

undergraduate athletics … ROY KRAMER … died 

Thursday. He was 96.

A football coach (Central Michigan) who became AD at 

Vanderbilt and later SEC commissioner, Kramer was the 

first to suggest a conference title game that generated 

millions in TV money. He also was credited with what 

was considered his greatest creation, the Bowl 

Championship Series (1998-2013) which morphed into a 

four-team playoff in 2014, expanding to 12 participants a 

year ago and likely to grow to 14 (as many as 16) in 

2026.

Of course, not all of Kramer’s innovations were met with 

applause. On retiring in 2002, in a rare interview, he said, 

the BCS had been “blamed for everything from El Nino 

to the terrorist attacks.”

NEXT THING you know … we’re feeling sorry for Notre 

Dame, being left out of the playoffs. Notre Dame? The 

500-pound gorilla of college sports? Get serious.

So the Fighting Irish responded by refusing to participate 

in a bowl game. No big deal, really … except to the 

mighty Pop Tarts Bowl which has a tie-in with the ACC 

… and now won’t get Virginia either.

Your Cavaliers will meet upstart Missouri in the Gator 

Bowl, Dec. 27 (7 p.m., kickoff, ABC).

According to one count, as many as seven other teams 

opted out of extending their seasons, too. Playing in bowl 

games no longer is considered important like it once was. 

When your fans stop going en masse, that’s a tipoff too 

striking to ignore.

Unfortunately, Notre Dame couldn’t settle for, say, 

condemning the selection committee for gross oversight.

No, AD PETE BEVACQUA went on DAN PATRICK’s

 radio program Monday to call out the ACC for pushing 

Miami and thereby causing what he called “permanent 

damage” between the conference and Notre Dame, an 

ACC member in everything but football and men’s ice 

hockey.

“We were mystified by the actions of the conference to 

attack their biggest partner in football and member in 24 

other sports,” Bevacqua said. “They certainly have done 

permanent damage to our relationship.”

Last month the ACC posted a side-by-side comparison of 

Miami, which defeated the Irish 27-24 in the season 

opener, and Notre Dame on social media with the 

notation: “No hypotheticals, just facts.” Both finished the 

regular schedule 10-2.

In addition, the conference planned to air a replay of the 

game in which Miami never trailed, 13 times on the ACC 

Network leading up to selection day this past Sunday.

Like anyone thought the above would influence the panel 

of 12 voters. Then having suddenly changed their minds, 

doing a flip-flop and replacing (in effect) Notre Dame 

with Miami, it was left up to the chairman of the 

committee to explain …. and, frankly, our head is still 

spinning by what he had to say.

“Miami had every right … to single us out … but it raised 

a lot of eyebrows here that the conference was taking 

shots at us,” Bevacqua told Patrick.

He stopped short of saying Notre Dame would leave the 

ACC. That probably will be addressed Tuesday (Dec. 9) 

at a press conference where he is likely to be grilled by 

critics such as Paul Finebaum and Stephen A. Smith … 

both of whom agreed Monday that Notre Dame no longer 

has the prestige to push people around as a football 

independent and should join a conference in all sports.

This isn’t the first time the Irish threatened the ACC. 

Notre Dame joined the conference in 2013-14, with 

football remaining independent while playing at least five 

ACC teams a year.

In 2020, because of the COVID 19 epidemic that limited 

participation, the Irish also became a full football-playing 

member of the ACC and played for the conference 

championship ,losing .

At season’s end, Notre Dame, still armed with a one-of-a-

kind TV deal with NBC, decided to resume its 

independent status immediately. When the conference 

questioned its right to do so, then AD Jack Swarbrick 

reportedly threatened to declare their contract null and 

void and take the Irish elsewhere, say to the Big 10 which 

had been after the Irish for a long time.

In fact, don’t be surprised if that’s what Bevacqua, who 

came to South Bend two years ago after running NBC’s 

sports division, has in mind.

He’s already gotten a guarantee from the selection 

committee the Irish cannot be bypassed again if they’re 

ranked no lower than 13^th in the final poll.

FINALLY, DID YOU SEE where Florida State quietly 

(but not quietly enough) talked to LANE KIFFIN about 

replacing MIKE NORVELL and staff.

It would have cost the Seminoles a reported $72 million

to buy everyone off … and they were willing to 

do it … before Kiffin chose LSU over Ole Miss and 

Florida.

Speaking of which … BILLY NAPIER, fired after going 

22-23 in more than two seasons in charge of the Gators’ 

program, will replace BOB CHESNY, bound for UCLA, 

at JMU.

Until next time ...