The College Football Playoff is headed for another major shakeup, and Duke coach Manny Diaz isn’t hiding where he stands.
On Monday, Diaz addressed the newly approved 24-team format during his news conference, and his message was clear: he wants the postseason decided on the field, not by a committee. Per The Fayetteville Observer, Diaz said he prefers a system where teams earn their way in through play rather than having the bracket shaped by outside selection.
Diaz also pushed back on the idea that conference championship games should disappear. With conferences having grown so much in recent years, he argued that it’s become difficult to cleanly sort out a true champion. Right now, several leagues are exploring tiebreakers as a way to determine who even gets to play for a title.
His alternative is a playoff model that begins inside the conferences themselves. In that setup, a team would have to work its way out of its league before reaching the national playoff.
Diaz also raised another concern tied to the 24-team expansion: what happens to bowl games. With more teams in the CFP, those games figure to matter even less, and Diaz said he believes bowl trips still offer something valuable for student-athletes.
There’s also a practical side to all of this for Duke. The Blue Devils would have been in a better position to reach the playoff under a 24-team field last season, and at 7-2 this year, they’d have a legitimate shot to stay in the mix and see how things play out.
The expanded format also raises questions about how to handle teams outside the power structure, including Group of 6 programs and independents such as Notre Dame. That part of the puzzle remains unresolved.
Still, the bigger picture is hard to miss: a 24-team playoff could keep a lot more schools alive deep into the season. And for fans, that means more teams with something real to play for when the calendar starts closing in on December.
In Other News...
Michigan State Needs One More Scoring Threat To Take Down Duke
Michigan State heads into the Championship Classic with a clear formula in mind: lean on Jeremy Fears to steady the offense, get enough production from the center spot, and keep Duke from dictating the game with its defense. The Spartans have the kind of structure that can make a high-profile nonconference matchup interesting, especially if their key pieces hold up against the pressure that comes with facing a team like Duke.
What Michigan State still needs, though, is one more scorer it can count on when the Blue Devils start taking away the primary options. An additional double-digit threat would go a long way toward making this a real test for Duke, because the margin for error shrinks quickly when the defense is this good. The question now is whether the Spartans can find that extra punch in time to make the matchup far more competitive than it looks on paper. [Read more 🡒]
Mia Minestrella's Winner Put Duke On The Verge Of History
Mia Minestrella delivered the kind of moment Duke womens soccer has built its reputation on, stepping to an overtime penalty kick and burying it in a 5-4 comeback win over Wake Forest. The seniors finish tied the programs career goal record at 47 and sent Duke into the ACC Championship semifinals, while also helping the Blue Devils reach their 500th program victory.
For a team that had to climb all the way back in one of the biggest comeback wins in ACC Championship history, the night carried more than one layer of significance. Minestrellas latest goal added to a career already packed with big moments, and it left Duke on the verge of history with the tournament still ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Duke Faces Its First Real Test Against A Top Five Rival
Duke gets its first real measuring stick of the season in the State Farm Champions Classic, where Jon Scheyers team meets Michigan State in an early Top 5 showdown that should say plenty about where both programs stand right now. The Blue Devils have had time to settle in, but this is the kind of November stage that quickly exposes what is working and what still needs polishing, especially against a Tom Izzo team that already looks sharp after opening with two wins.
Michigan State brings the usual Izzo edge, and junior guard Jeremy Fears gives the Spartans a steadying presence in the backcourt as they prepare for one of the seasons biggest nonconference games. For Duke, the matchup is less about the hype around the ranking and more about handling the pressure points that come with a rivalry-caliber test, from the guard battle to the physicality that tends to define these meetings. The betting line and prediction only add to the intrigue, but the real story is whether the Blue Devils can answer an elite opponent right away. [Read more 🡒]