When Tony Petitti floated his bad idea for a College Football Playoffs format change during Big Ten media days, the Big Ten commissioner's idea was met with almost universal disapproval. Unfortunately, it appears that Petitti took the wrong message home, resurfacing just three weeks later with an even worse idea, floating the idea of expanding to 24 or 28 playoff teams. In the process, it certainly seems like his latest plan is a shot across the bow for the Notre Dame football team.
Please make no mistake about it, that Petitti is taking direct aim at Notre Dame shouldn't be a surprise. He and several Big Ten coaches made it clear they don't like the independence of Notre Dame during media days. This new format could stomp that independence out.
Notre Dame football faces pressure as Tony Petitti pushes a 24–28 team CFP model
According to ESPN's Pete Thamel, the new format that would almost certainly make life more difficult for the Notre Dame football team is one that would not just have 28 or 24 teams, but the vast majority of those teams would come from Power Conference schools.
"For example, in the 28-team model, the Big Ten and SEC would each get seven auto bids while the ACC and Big 12 would each receive five," Thamel wrote. "There would be two auto bids for the non-Power 4 conferences and two at-large teams."
Indeed, it stands to reason that Notre Dame would get one of those two at-large bids, but with that much deference paid to the Power conferences, one has to think there would be more of a push to give the other two at-large spots to the smaller conferences.
Even if the Irish could feel relatively safe that they'd get one of the two, there would be a push from the Big Ten to say, "join us and you can be one of seven teams to make the playoffs.
The push for this expanded format is in the early stages. Thamel reports that Petitti started sharing the format among Big Ten teams earlier this week. The question now is whether the power conferences, which became splintered by Petitti's push for play-in games, come back together in the interest of greed.
Should that happen, the Notre Dame football team could find itself under renewed pressure to join a conference and solidify its slot in a playoff versus hoping things stay "fair" as an independent.