Expanding the Expanded Playoff & Court Stormings

Good morning and welcome to 4th & Forever, Rand & Tate’s College Football Newsletter. College football leaders are shooting themselves in the foot while a Duke player is acting like he got shot in the foot. There’s plenty to discuss across the college sports spectrum, so without further ado, let’s get to it!

The 12-Team Playoff Has Run Its Course

Last Wednesday in Dallas, College Football Playoff leaders met for over nine hours to discuss the future of the CFP, and things got silly pretty quickly. The first order of business was making the 5+7 format of the 12-team playoff official. If you remember back when the 12-team playoff was first introduced, the format was set to be the top six-ranked conference champions would automatically qualify, with six other spots open for at-large bids. That meant that all five of the power conferences would be guaranteed at least one spot, with one other automatic bid left for the highest ranked Group of Five conference champion; But with the death of the PAC-12 last summer, the need to rework the structure became apparent, and the long-expected change to the 5 conference champion + 7 at-large spots is now the official model. Well, for the next two years, that is…

…because these f*cking guys spent the rest of the meeting talking about what a 14-team or even a 16-team format might look like. No, seriously, the same guys who spent two years working to create the 12-team playoff are now discussing expanding it again, before we’ve ever even played a game with the 12-team format. As we discussed recently, the SEC and the Big Ten have begun to start flexing their muscles, given that the two leagues are now the home to almost all of college football’s most valuable programs. And now that formal meetings about the future model of the playoff are taking place, the two super-leagues are beginning to start officially asking the questions that everyone has been waiting for them to ask for two years: Why the hell should we be okay with the same amount of automatic qualifier spots as the tiny little sad leagues like the ACC and Big 12? Are we seriously going to allow Ohio State, LSU, Oregon and Texas to possibly miss the playoffs in favor of Kansas State? Shouldn’t we each get, say, four auto-bids, since we’re oh-so superior?

Look, not everyone is a fan of expanding the playoff from four to twelve teams in the first place, but even if you are (and we certainly are here at 4th & Forever), it is clearly going to be a somewhat flawed system. Currently, the four highest ranked conference champions will earn first round byes, which means we could be in a situation where 11-2 Clemson earns a bye by winning a much softer conference over 12-1 Georgia, even if the Dawgs kick the Tigers ass in Week 1. And what happens if an insane conference championship upset happens, and 9-4 Pitt gets in? Are we really going to give Tulane or Boise State a first round bye? But at the very least, the expanded playoff was going to create more opportunities for more programs to play meaningful games throughout the year, winning your conference championship would have more solid meaning than ever before, and the system would be inclusionary enough that teams from smaller conferences could have legitimate hopes of being included while the number of at-large spots allows for some wiggle room if you don’t win your conference. It’s as good of a system as any for a sport with such massive ranges of talent and resources across the country.

Adding multiple auto-bids for specific conferences, regardless of a team’s conference champion status, would completely undermine all of that. It would be telling us to our face, in an official capacity, that this is a made-for-TV product that just exists only to give its biggest brands more air time. And while we know that is already the case at its core, the 12-team playoff at least provides an equal playing field for all involved. The third highest-ranked team in the SEC being guaranteed a spot in the CFP could have truly devastating impacts to the meaningfulness of regular season games, and what the hell would it mean for conference championship games? Could we see teams rest players in their conference championship game if they’re already guaranteed a spot in the playoff? It’s absurd, and almost a slap in the face to what people love about college football in the first place, that we even have to ask that question.

The Big Ten and the SEC have their cake - they’ve added almost all of college football’s valuable brands, and they are receiving insane amounts of television revenue to show as many Oregon @ Penn State and Texas @ Alabama types of games as possible. But now the two leagues want to eat that cake too, and limit the consequences for the losers of those games to an extreme degree. Adding automatic qualifying bids to the SEC and Big Ten alone would be great for television ratings and revenue, but terrible for the sport we all love. It continues to be such a shame to know what will win out in the end when the battle of a little extra money vs. the betterment of the sport come head-to-head with each other.

Wake Basketball

If you were under a rock all weekend, Wake beat Duke in basketball on Saturday and there was a court storming incident where Duke’s star player Kyle Filipowski was injured after making contact with a fan. I’ll address the ‘disgraceful’ ‘shameful’ and ‘disgusting’ incident below but as Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said best, “I don’t want to take away from the game that Wake played.” Your backhanded compliment managed to do just that by sucking out all the oxygen from the incredible basketball game and focusing on a narrative that conveniently benefits you but I’ll get to that.

As you could probably guess, I was at the Joel on Saturday for the game and I have not seen the Joel rocking like that since the 2008-2009 season. In the span of 17 days in 2009 #4 ranked Wake Forest knocked off #3 UNC and #1 Duke. It’s a miracle I am still alive after those two court stormings eyeroll. Don’t ask me how the rest of that season and the next 14 years panned out for the Deacs. Anyway, the atmosphere in the Joel was incredible, Tie Dye Nation is back, and barring a late season collapse, the Deacs will be dancing. 

Hunter Sallis had 29 points on 11-13 shooting, Andrew Carr had 16 second half points, while Boopie and Cam made clutch plays in the final minutes to seal the win. With four games remaining against Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, and Clemson, the Deacs will likely find themselves with a double bye in the ACC Tournament. That’d automatically put the Deacs in the quarterfinals where they haven’t been since 2009 when it was a smaller conference and also had a bye. The farthest they’ve been in the ACC tourney not by default is the 2006 semis and haven’t won it since 1996. Anytime I talk about 1990’s Wake basketball I am legally obligated to bring up the Randolph Childress crossover of some poor UNC player who is lucky Twitter did not exist when his soul visibly left his body on national TV. Enjoy

What a game, what an atmosphere, what a win. Go Deacs and please God do not lose to Notre Dame tomorrow night.

Court Storming

Before I start, I genuinely hope Kyle Filipowski is not seriously injured and can return to the court as soon as possible. You never want to see a player get injured whether a court storming is involved or not. I hope he’s back to full strength on Wednesday night against Louisville and wish him the best of luck the rest of the way, particularly on March 9th against UNC. 

After the game, coach Scheyer predictably went on a rant about the dangers of court storming and the risk it poses to opposing players. Agree, it’s extremely dangerous and I’m honestly shocked this hasn’t happened more. I’m sure you’ve seen the video of Caitlin Clark getting decked by a vlogging Ohio State fan earlier this year and having the wind knocked out of her. A quick Google search of fans and players colliding from court or field stormings yields plenty of examples of people getting decked, punches being thrown, and overzealous fans taunting opposing players on their way out of the venue. 

I’m also not here to argue whether Filipowski tripped the Wake fan, initiated the contact, or who was at fault. You can be the judge of that yourself. I will say it’s inconclusive and an optical illusion depending on whose side you’re on. If you’re a Duke fan you see drunk students taunting Filipowski and got what they deserved. If you’re a Wake fan you see Filipowski trip and shove Wake students running past him as he saunters off the court. What this incident is not is a referendum on Wake Forest as a whole. No, (family friend name redacted), Wake did not solidify the ‘worst fans ever reputation.’ No, (random dude from high school), Wake is not ‘absolutely disgusting and shameful.’ No, Georgia coaching legend Tom Crean, the student should not be banned from attending sporting events for the rest of his life. Kyle Filipowski is still alive, right? Based off some discourse around the incident, I need to confirm he did not die or undergo an amputation.

It was an unfortunate incident and it sucks that it happened but I’ll be damned if I let Duke…DUKE…get made out like a victim. Just so we’re clear, this is the same institution that distributes cheer sheets to all the Crazies before every game. Here’s one from last year against UNC. It’s intentionally blocked out but they listed a UNC player’s phone number and coincidentally there are directions to ‘get as close to the inbounder as possible’ when the opposing team is inbounding. The same student section that chanted ‘how’s your grandma’ at NC State’s Tyler Lewis after his grandmother died in 2013 and depending on your ACC allegiances, they’ve probably chanted something heinous at your team’s player before too. Spare me with the moral high ground argument. 

Let’s not act like Duke acted like disciples during this fiasco. Watch this video. At the 33-second mark, a female Duke staffer points and screams ‘fuck you’ at a fan on her way into the tunnel. Ironically, I think she might be yelling at the Duke fan. He’s the only one talking to the players and I don’t see evidence of a Wake fan even opening their mouth. Also, coach, while you’re on your soapbox, let’s not make up lies to push your agenda. Scheyer said, “When I played, at least you got 10 seconds before they started to storm the court.” Well, I did some research, and turns out that’s not the case at all. Here are clips from Scheyer’s Duke days when he played and lost on the road. 2009 Boston College, 2009 Michigan, 2006 Georgetown. From 2006 - 2010 when Scheyer was on the roster, Duke lost on the road and had the court stormed 14 times. Feel free to look up any other instances per this list. There most certainly was not a 10-second stand around and wait rule nor has there ever been. 

Scheyer continued by saying, “I should have taken them off the court. That is a mistake on my part…In retrospect, I wish I would have gotten those guys off the court. I let them down.” Again, whether this was Filipowski or a walk-on, I don’t want to see anyone get injured. But when you’re about to get court stormed you should make a business decision and say I think our best player should be out of the way of a bunch of drunk college students sprinting onto the court in case something happens. Ironically (everything in this rant is ironic), Roy Williams did this in 2012. When UNC lost to FSU, Williams pulled his entire staff and starters into the locker room well before the buzzer and let his 5 walk-ons run out the clock and deal with the onslaught on Seminoles fans. Granted, that game was a blowout and Williams had to apologize for stranding his players on the court but I digress. Scheyer continued, “Who in their right mind could see that and say, 'Yeah. That's smart’…It's dangerous. In what other sport does that happen?” If you were smart and wanted to get your players out of harm’s way wouldn’t you get your future 1st round picks off the court before the buzzer? There was a deadball with 2 seconds left and you were down by 4. If you want to argue someone could’ve gotten fouled shooting a three, fair, but throw a better inbounds pass next time. Wake wasn’t going to foul Duke and we know this because…Scheyer said it himself. Lastly, why is this not comparable to football? Here’s a video of Duke storming the field after beating Clemson earlier this year. Everything that happened in Winston happened in Durham, including Duke students taunting Dabo. 

What’s the solution? I’m fine with court stormings being banned because as I mentioned earlier, it’s dangerous and something like this was bound to happen. Do you fine the hell out of the offending school? We already do that and it’s not a deterrent people think it is. After euphoric wins, fanbases and school administrations are more than happy to pay whatever meager fine comes their way. After Tennessee beat Alabama in 2022, Tennessee President was asked about potential fines and said, “It doesn't matter. We'll do this every year.” I’m sure the Wake administration feels the same way. Do you arrest the offending fans? Go rewatch any of the videos I’ve linked in this section and ask yourself if that’s remotely feasible. Tighter security? It’s already there and in every video you can clearly see security forming a wall in front of the scorer’s table so the post game handshake can go on and visitors can get off the court. Spare me again with any absence of Wake security argument. With 2 minutes left in the game, 20-30 security guards lined the aisle in the section behind the Duke bench and between the student section. It was blatantly obvious if you wanted to get on the court, you were not going to access it from behind Duke’s bench. I know this because I was sitting in the section between the student section and Duke visitors. I couldn’t even access the aisle as the game was winding down because security was blocking it. If you want to see a picture I took, check out our website here. This is the same practice Wake runs during every court storming. When Wake beat UNC in 2009 I was a ball boy and with 2 mins left in the game they pulled me off the court to stand behind the UNC bench. I was not trampled, UNC players got of the court, and the students stormed from behind the basket, just as they did on Saturday. Next time, Filipowski should sprint off the court as his teammate Tyrese Proctor did. And the best way to stop a court storming on the road is to win the game. Go Deacs. 

Quick Hitters

We once again have to talk about the judicial system, because last week the NCAA continued its favorite new pastime - badly losing cases in court that continue to chip away at the organization’s power and relevance in today’s world. On Friday, a federal judge in Tennessee granted an injunction to freeze the NCAA’s rules around NIL - a death blow to the NCAA’s efforts to avoid a pay-for-play type of system in college athletics. In January, the NCAA allegedly leaked to the press that it would be investigating the University of Tennessee’s athletic department around its NIL practices related to recruiting. As we’ve mentioned probably 400 times since we launched this newsletter, it is technically against NCAA rules to use any sort of NIL deal to “induce” players to come play at a specific school - yet that is exactly what is happening everywhere in the country. Tennessee filed this lawsuit within 48 hours of the media’s reporting on the situation, and publicly called out the NCAA’s hypocritical and backwards policies and subsequent enforcement on this issue.

We will be the first ones to admit that we don’t love that college sports seems to be headed to inevitable pay-for-play structure. But there is no getting around the fact that we are at a point where it is objectively absurd that athletes are technically supposed to have no idea what will be financially available to them when they are making their college decisions. Nowhere else in America is it the case that you can’t simply ask the question “How much money could I be making?” when accepting a new job, or even for other college students who plan on working during their time in school. The NCAA fought until the bitter end to avoid the existence of NIL in college athletics in the first place, and therefore had no structure in place to create rules that everybody could agree upon, and that the NCAA itself could enforce. The NCAA let the toothpaste out of the tube from the jump, and continues to get shut down in various courts around the US because at this point, almost any NCAA restriction around what is financially available to a player is seen as borderline unconstitutional. 

The Big Ten and the SEC’s announcement that they’d be opening a joint advisory group to tackle these issues was a direct response to the NCAA continuing to lose any power it has left in the eyes of the US judicial system. Somebody has to figure out what this is all going to look like in the future, and it becomes clearer by the week that it’s not going to be the NCAA. It’s now officially open season on using NIL as a recruiting tactic, and there is no putting the toothpaste back in the tube on this one. The NCAA is a dead organization walking.

Hope you have a great day and we will talk to you again soon.

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Rand Fisher & Tate Smillie met a few years ago through their good buddy Dave Peljovich who went to college with Rand and high school with Tate. Tate went to Georgia and has spent the last two years collecting championship rings while traveling to watch the Dawgs. Rand went to known CFB powerhouse Wake Forest and currently pays rent in Atlanta but is rarely found there with all the work & CFB travel he does.