Protecting Irish independence

CHICAGO — Through Jack Swarbrick's lens, it ultimately wasn't so much
about details such as neutral sites or what to call the Bowl
Championship Series once its ongoing and protracted makeover finally
has a unified look.

The Notre Dame athletic director's charge — and perhaps ultimately his
legacy — was to make sure that college football's ultimate seismic
spasms didn't result in Notre Dame ending up at the kids' table and/or
having the end of football independence forced upon it in an ugly
ultimatum.

With each passing week since the process introduced the p-word —
playoff — followed by seemingly unending posturing and politics from
the most powerful corners of the discussion, it became clear
Swarbrick's persistently optimistic view that the Irish would have an
unimpeded avenue to the top tier of the new college football world
order was more than wishful thinking.

Originally, Wednesday was supposed to be the day it all became clear —
that and every dangling detail of what postseason football will look
like when the new postseason contract cycle begins in 2014. The only
formality supposedly left would be a rubber stamp of sorts from the
university presidents Tuesday in Washington at the BCS presidential
oversight committee.

Instead, the rhetoric will drone on for at least six more days, if not
a matter of weeks. But the recommendation Swarbrick and the 11
commissioners of the FBS football conferences will forward to the next
step in the approval process is unanimity in a four-team, seeded
playoff model.

“I said all along our interest was ensuring we have a chance to play
ourselves into any championship model, and we do,” Swarbrick said
after a press conference involving every member of the committee at
the InterContinental Hotel. “There's no obstacle for us. If we earn
it, we can play in it.”

It's the best-case scenario for Notre Dame on every level, although
Swarbrick offered it was the best-case scenario for college football
in general.

“The positive nature of the process has been underappreciated here,”
he said. “A few people have given perspectives, but the collegiality
has never waned. We've had spirited debates. People had strongly held
positions.

“I can't tell you how impressive it was that people kept the larger
interest of the game throughout, but also maintained their personal
relationships and collegiality. That's why we're where we are today.”

The committee, which sequestered itself in a meeting room on the
eighth floor of the downtown Chicago hotel for four hours on Wednesday
afternoon, will meet again for a shorter period Thursday morning, with
the caveat that the presidents Tuesday will look at other models
besides the one that was so uniformly endorsed after Wednesday's
session.

That includes the Plus-One format, seen as a backward half-step by
many observers. That format would involve staging a one-game playoff
between what are considered the top two teams once all of the bowls
have played out.

“We know that is where the ultimate authority at the university level
in our conference resides, so we respect that,” Big Ten commissioner
Jim Delany said. “But I'm sure that if we make our case, we'll get a
good hearing and I think that the 26th will be an important day.

“Could there be a present with a bow on it and have everything wrapped
up? It could happen if you were real optimistic, but I would think
that they would probably send us off, and we would probably have to
meet again and spend more time together and probably resolve some
outstanding issues.”

Those issues include money distribution, sites of games, selection
process for the four teams in the playoff and whether to incorporate
some bowls into the four-team playoff or have them stand alone.

When asked how the presidents could be expected to peruse and decide
on issues it took Delany, Swarbrick and Co., five months and six
meetings to get this far, the Big Ten commissioner deadpanned,
“They're smarter than we are.”

The hope is that they'll be smart enough to lock into a format beyond
the customary four-year cycles that has been part of the BCS since its
inception in the 1998 season.

“Again, I think we'll defer those specifics to our presidents, but I
think we all share a common goal of creating some stability, not
spending so much time together anytime soon,” Swarbrick said with a
smile.

“I think the way we'll achieve that, through what our presidents
ultimately decide, is something that will be in place for a
significant period of time.”

The next step for Swarbrick will be building a secondary bowl
structure for the years ND falls short of the playoff plateau.
Currently, the Irish can play in the Champs Sports Bowl once in the
four-year cycle that ends after the 2013 season.

ND exercised that option after last season, so if the Irish fall short
of the BCS in either 2012 or 2103, they'll have to make a dumpster
dive of sorts — landing in a bowl whose conference affiliate fell
short of bowl-eligible teams.

“We want to get through the presidential meetings (before working on a
secondary bowl),” Swarbrick said. “I think that's important. Once
that's behind, we'll look to the next layer of the postseason.”

He'll also have to tackle the latest ND-to-a-conference rumor, that
latest of which popped up on Orangebloods.com, the Rivals.com site
that covers the University of Texas.

It reported Wednesday that Notre Dame pulling its Olympic sports out
of the Big East Conference and housing them in the Big 12 was becoming
“more and more likely.” The website, citing two anonymous sources,
speculated an announcement could come by the end of the summer.

The sources told the site that ND, in turn, would agree to play three
Big 12 teams in football to start, eventually expanding to six a year.

“I thought maybe (Big 12 commissioner Bob) Bowlsby and I should really
hold hands up there to really fuel that,” Swarbrick joked. “I have no
idea what prompted that. It is not based on any discussion, any
meeting, anything that we have done.

“I've said all along there were three important factors for us. One is
the resolution of the postseason football, which we are closer to. One
is the resolution of our media relationship (NBC), which we are in the
homestretch of. And third is the stability of the Big East, which we
get more information on every day.”

And now Swarbrick can smile a little bit bigger every day, pending a
wild left turn in next week's presidential meetings. He pushed away
the notion that the direction that the postseason format appears to be
heading is a referendum that Notre Dame still matters, but the actions
of his colleagues more than hinted that was the case.

“I do think the fact that we are here together is an important
statement on behalf of college football,” said SEC commissioner Mike
Slive. “We have our interests to take care of. We have our own
conferences to be responsible to, but I think all of us can sense
throughout these discussions that we really want to do something
that's in the best interests of college football.”

And that includes an independent Notre Dame.