Jim Phillips, the ACC Commissioner, was on a call with reporters on Friday, and offered his explanation for the ACC’s stance in regards to College Football Playoff expansion, and why it the issue continues to be delayed.

Phillips said the ACC is very much aligned in its position that “now is not the right time to expand the playoff,” and added that the sport has to make sure its “house is in order” first. The ACC supports a model of expansion in the future, but there are “much larger issues facing us” than expansion. The ACC is not attached to an 8-team model, and Phillips said it’s more about timing than the model.

“We continued to be willing and open for us to continue our conversation and try to make process,” he said, via Heather Dinich of ESPN. “The board has asked us to continue down that road. … We’re not the only conference that has some issues.”

The ACC has held this position since late fall.

“We continued to be willing and open for us to continue our conversation and try to make process,” he said. “The board has asked us to continue down that road. … We’re not the only conference that has some issues.”

At issue is what Phillips calls 3 “buckets of concerns.”

  • Too many unanswered questions as it relates to players’ health/safety/well-being. Said impact of additional games can’t be ignored.
  • Overall disruption in college athletics. He said the world has changed since 2019 when it was brought up. Talking about new NCAA constitution and new governance structure.
  • Still haven’t done 365-day holistic review of college football. Clemson doesn’t want to play anymore games, he said.

“It’s not just the ACC,” he said. “There are issues everyone has. I don’t know that this is some type of monumental moment in our process.”