AD: Irish prefer independence over vying for bye
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Heather Dinich, Senior College Football Insider
ATLANTA — Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua said the independent Irish are comfortable continuing to give up access to a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff — something currently granted to only the four highest-ranked conference champions — as long as the fate of conference championship games remains the same.
“We’re comfortable that if conference championship games continue as they’re currently configured, part of the deal we made is that we wouldn’t get a bye, and that’s understandable,” Bevacqua said Saturday, speaking to a small group of reporters at the national championship game media availability at the Georgia World Congress Center. “And quite frankly, I wouldn’t trade that [first-round] Indiana game at Notre Dame Stadium for anything in the world, but you also have to be smart and strategic, and your odds of making a national championship game are increased if you get to play one less game.
“So I think a lot is going to depend on the fate of the conference championship games,” he said. “Should they go away? And that’s obviously not my decision. Should they be altered in some sort of material way where it’s not the top two teams playing for a championship, but something else? Then I think we absolutely have to re-look at Notre Dame’s ability to get a bye if we end up being one of the top four teams.”
Bevacqua’s comments come as he and the FBS commissioners prepare to meet Sunday to begin their review of the inaugural 12-team field, which will produce a national champion on Monday with the winner of Ohio State vs. Notre Dame.
Bevacqua is part of the CFP’s management committee, which is also comprised of the 10 FBS commissioners tasked with determining the format and rules of the playoff to eventually send to the 11 presidents and chancellors on the CFP board for their approval. The commissioners and Bevacqua will have a 90-minute business meeting to start to discuss possible changes for the 2025 season, which would require unanimity, leaving many CFP sources skeptical that next season will look much different.
Bevacqua said he thinks “there’s a chance” the group could agree on a change to the seeding, but one option that has been floated by sources with knowledge of the discussions is having the committee’s top four teams earn the top four seeds — which opens the door for Notre Dame to earn a first-round bye without playing in a conference championship game.
“I think everybody wants what’s best for the overall system,” he said. “It was interesting, when you think about those four teams that got a bye, they didn’t advance. Now I don’t think that has anything to do with the fact that they got a bye, I think that was mostly competition and happenstance. But I think there’ll be a good, honest conversation that will start tomorrow. Are there any changes that we ought to make from this year to next year and make something that’s worked really well work even better? Will there be changes? I’m just one person. I’m not sure.”
CFP executive director Rich Clark, who also spoke to a small group of reporters at the media day event, said some changes for 2025 would require “more lead time than a few months to implement,” so no major structural changes like the size of the bracket are expected for 2025.
Clark said the commissioners will talk about every aspect from “cradle to the grave,” including seeding and re-seeding possibilities.”
Clark said whatever changes are made for 2026 and beyond — the start of a new, six-year contract with ESPN — need to be determined by the end of the calendar year. That could include increasing the bracket size, possibly to 14 or 16 teams.
“We’re trying to beat that timeline,” Clark said. “We don’t want to obviously wait until the limits of it. So we want to move smartly on these things, but we don’t want to make bad decisions, either.”
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Greg Wyshynski
Boston Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs vowed that his team would return to the playoffs next season despite finishing in last place and trading away several players at the deadline.
“We’ve spoken at great length about this: The team that we currently have, [if] healthy and with the additions we intend to make this summer, I anticipate that we’ll have a playoff team and play meaningful hockey at this time of year in 2026,” he said.
The Bruins were last in the Atlantic Division (76 points) with their lowest standings points percentage (.463) in 18 seasons. The team fired head coach Jim Montgomery 20 games into the season and traded popular veteran players such as captain Brad Marchand, center Charlie Coyle and defenseman Brandon Carlo at the deadline.
“We fell way short and it’s disappointing for us,” team president Cam Neely said. “It’s disappointing for our fan base. They deserve better. They’ve supported us for a hundred-plus years. This gives us an opportunity to regroup a little bit, reset and build back better.”
GM Don Sweeney laid out a plan for that quick build back to contention. The first target is to add more offense, specifically on the wings.
“The scoring potential of our group needs to be increased and addressed this summer,” said Sweeney, whose team was 28th in the NHL in goals per game despite a 43-goal campaign from star David Pastrnak.
Sweeney said he wants the Bruins to get back to their core identity of being a strong defensive team in front of effective goaltending. Both Jeremy Swayman, in the first year of an eight-year, $66 million contract extension, and Joonas Korpisalo were in the negatives for goals saved above expected this season.
“Our goaltenders previously have been really, really good. This year, they weren’t as good. That’s fact. And our team in front of them didn’t defend with the same level of conviction,” he said.
Then there’s the aspect the Bruins hope turns around for next season: health. Key defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm both missed significant time last season.
To orchestrate all of this, Sweeney and Neely have to decide on the next head coach of the Bruins. Joe Sacco went 25-30-7 as an interim coach. Sweeney said Sacco has been informed that there will be a coaching search and that he’ll be a finalist for the job. The coaching search process is underway for Boston.
Sacco led the Avalanche to a 130-134-40 record from 2009-2014 and was a finalist for coach of the year in his first season. He spent 10 years as a Bruins assistant before being promoted for the rest of the season when Jim Montgomery was fired.
Sweeney is facing some uncertainty himself. He has been the Bruins’ general manager since May 2015, but is entering the last year of his contract. Neely said he’s debating whether or not to extend Sweeney.
“I’m still contemplating what the best course of action is. I really feel like Don has done a good job here, for the most part,” Neely said.
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