David Cariello has never seen anything quite like this.
Since Tulane advanced to the College Football Playoff, merchandise has flown off his store’s shelves at such a rate that he’s had to order thousands of additional apparel.
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This time of year, his New Orleans sports shop, Campus Connection, normally receives orders in the single or double digits. Last weekend, he had nearly 1,000 new orders in a span of about 36-48 hours.
Now, a few days before No. 11 seed Tulane’s first-round playoff game at No. 6 Ole Miss, he’s placed nearly 3,000 orders alone for sweatshirts and T-shirts monogrammed with the Green Wave’s new motto, popularized by coach Jon Sumrall himself: RMFW.
The acronym stands for “Roll Mother F****** Wave.”
“I kind of had a minor panic attack with all of the calls for orders,” Cariello said. “I didn’t know if I could handle it.”
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The outpouring in New Orleans shows the power of an expanded playoff on non-power league programs — the underdogs of the Football Bowl Subdivision who often operate with limited budgets, smaller stadiums and far less historical accomplishments than their peers in the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC. The same goes for James Madison, the playoff’s No. 12 seed, which sold its allotment of 3,500 tickets despite the cross-country journey to Oregon.
While Tulane’s and JMU’s inclusion brings about the feel-good stories that often make college athletics different from the pros — for instance, the Cinderellas in the NCAA tournament — this particular year has introduced an unusual situation that the creators of the playoff probably never imagined: There are two, not just one, non-power programs in a postseason field of 12.
Well, it may be the last time it happens.
In news that’s 18 months old but has gone mostly overshadowed, next year’s playoff will specifically designate that the champions of the SEC, ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten receive a berth into the postseason field, plus the highest-ranked non-power league conference champion. That’s according to the now-infamous memorandum of understanding the parties signed in Spring 2024.
Jon Sumrall is the next head coach at Florida, but for now, he’s also coaching the Tulane Green Wave. (Michael DeMocker/Getty Images)
(Michael DeMocker via Getty Images)
This is different from the current format, which designates the five automatic berths to the highest-ranked conference champions and not to specific leagues.
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For instance, this year’s playoff bracket, if using next year’s concepts, would look very different.
For one, Duke, despite its 8-5 record, would have automatically advanced into the field as the ACC champion, bumping out JMU, the second-highest-ranked non-power league champion.
But there’s something else.
As part of the memorandum signed last spring, the conferences agreed to grant Notre Dame a guarantee for the future: If the Irish are ranked inside the top 12 of a 12-team playoff, they automatically advance into the field.
That means, in this year’s playoff, Notre Dame, ranked No. 11, would be in the field in place of the last at-large bid: Miami.
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These two concepts — now coming into a brighter light publicly — have caught the attention of those in college athletics. In fact, the guarantee for Notre Dame, negotiated by Irish athletic director Pete Bevacqua and agreed to by the 10 FBS conferences, caused quite the stir last week from a gathering of athletic administrators from Las Vegas.
“Why did we agree to give Notre Dame that?” said one power league athletic director, steaming over the deal.
But there’s plenty more to this story.
In fact, those in the non-power league ranks are asking why the Mountain West, American, C-USA, MAC, Pac-12 and Sun Belt agreed to alternate language that in future years prevents them from the possibility of receiving two automatic spots — just like they did this year.
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The answer is quite simple. Last spring, during intense and, at times, heated negotiations over the future of the College Football Playoff, leaders of the Big Ten and SEC threatened to create their own postseason system if they were not granted a majority of CFP revenue (they now have a combined 58% of it) and full authority over the playoff format (they have that, too). The non-power conferences only had a finite amount of time to opt into the deal.
In the end, all 11 parties — the 10 FBS conferences and Notre Dame — inked three separate memorandum of understanding documents: one among the 11; one between the 11 and ESPN; and a third, separate agreement over revenue with the Pac-12’s two displaced members, Washington State and Oregon State.
However, the MOUs covers a playoff of only up to 14 teams. The fact that commissioners are exploring expansion to 16 or more begs the question: How much do these guarantees change if a new MOU is negotiated?
It depends on who you ask.
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“The main tenets of the guarantees wouldn’t change,” says one college leader.
But another official suggests that Notre Dame’s guarantee would, in fact, be impacted by any renegotiation if the playoff expands beyond 14.
Either way, as the playoffs begin this week, the results of the games are certain to impact future expansion and format discussions. In the 12-team playoff era — just one year in — programs outside of the SEC and Big Ten are 0-4. The non-power leagues and the ACC and Big 12 have three more chances this weekend (Miami, JMU and Tulane) and at least one more shot in the quarterfinals (Texas Tech).
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But, win or lose, the FBS underdogs are reveling in this current postseason structure. The playoff berth alone is delivering to JMU and Tulane early Christmas tidings. In fact, from mid-November to mid- December, Tulane’s donor contributions rose 373% compared to that stretch last year.
Meanwhile, Cariello is still selling those “RMFW” shirts, even to the likes of college sports leaders. American commissioner Tim Pernetti purchased one of the sweatshirts, Pernetti says, and he’ll be wearing it Saturday on the sideline in Oxford.
Roll Mother F***** Wave?
