PINEHURST, N.C. — Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner John Swofford addressed the media for his annual forum to start ACC media kickoff on Monday. He spoke on a number of topics, ranging from autonomy among the power conferences to revenue for the ACC Network television station.

Here are a few takeaways from his press conference.

Bigger stage:

Scheduling is an oft-debated topic regarding Syracuse football. Placing difficult games on the schedule to help raise the profile of the program. Sprinkling cupcakes over a slate that ensures at least a bowl game for SU.

Swofford discussed how significant it is to schedule and win big games against big-time teams.

“There’s importance in our schools scheduling and giving themselves schedules to win high-profile games,” Swofford said. “They have done that in recent years. They’ve scheduled those games and we’ve won our share of those games. Playing quality teams and winning games is important.”

When asked about scheduling at his introductory press conference in June, new athletic director Mark Coyle said it’s important for Syracuse to schedule games that gives the program a good chance to win.

In the non-conference slate, Syracuse will host Rhode Island, Central Michigan and Louisiana State, while traveling to face South Florida.

Staying put:

Swofford professed his satisfaction with the four-team playoff to determine a national champion. He was questioned on Monday whether an eight-team playoff might be more fair and leave fewer elite teams feeling snubbed from a chance to win it all.

He noted that college football doesn’t want to have games going on during finals periods, nor does it want the sport to span across two semesters. He said that in order to include more teams, other games on the schedule would have to be eliminated, whether it be a regular season game or conference championship.

“In a perfect world, if you only want to talk about football, and only about the playoff, yeah eight is probably better,” Swofford said. “In my mind you have the five major conference champions and three at large that are chosen … Maybe down the road, that’s something this evolves into.”

No deal:

Earlier this summer, college football was close to implementing an early signing period. It would have given commits a chance to sign a letter of intent in mid-December, as opposed to waiting until National Signing Day in February.

It was rejected by the Collegiate Commissioners Association in June, further postponing an effort that has been years in the making. Swofford said it was disappointing, but the effort has a lot of momentum going into next year.

“We’ve been talking about that for years,” Swofford said. “Some people feel that we really shouldn’t change the signing day. But look at it in the context of the whole recruiting calendar … It’s got more support than I’ve ever seen for it.”

Last season Syracuse had eight players decommit from its Class of 2015.

Published on July 20, 2015 at 1:48 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3