As coaches and players took the microphones in Charlotte and Indianapolis, the ACC and Big Ten media days provided a unique juxtaposition about the state of college football.

Both conferences have at least 17 members after recently adding some programs from the crumbling Pac-12.

On one hand, however, the Big Ten plucked most of the conference's biggest names: Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington. Armed with a lucrative television deal, the Big Ten is well-positioned for the future and headed to media days in a confident spot.

Meanwhile, the ACC nabbed Cal and Stanford—along with SMU—in far less dramatic moves. And this week, the ACC faced questions about Clemson and Florida State potentially angling out of the league.

The interviews offered other takeaways, yet it sure was a fascinating moment for coinciding media days.

ACC Commissioner Fires at FSU, Clemson

Entering his fourth year as the ACC commissioner, Jim Phillips is facing a pressure-filled existence.

Florida State made the first move to challenge the conference's grant of rights agreement, and Clemson has since joined that effort. In short: The schools are looking to secure a path out of the ACC, should an appealing destination—say, the SEC—be available in the future.

Phillips, unsurprisingly, is not happy about the lawsuits.

"These disputes continue to be extremely damaging, disruptive, and incredibly harmful to the league, as well as overshadowing our student-athletes and the incredible successes taking place on the field and within the conference," he told reporters.

Phillips continued later: "I will tell you there isn't a day that doesn't go by that I don't spend some time on the legal cases. I don't think that's going to change."

Further realignment seems inevitable, and Phillips' responsibility is trying to keep the conference intact.

No worries. It's only a mountain of pressure.

Narduzzi Shades Penn State

Look, we can have the discussion about whether Pat Narduzzi should be doing this, but I absolutely love that he did.

In response to a question about Pitt and West Virginia reigniting the Backyard Brawl, Narduzzi took a shot at Penn State.

"Great to have that (WVU) rivalry back," the Pitt coach told reporters. "We embrace rivalries. ... We'd love to play Penn State if they would play us. If they won't play us, we'd love to play West Virginia as many times as we could play them. They're coming back to Pittsburgh."

And, hey, understood.

For nearly the entire 20th century, Penn State and Pitt played an annual game. Since that series effectively ended in 2000, however, the in-state programs have only squared off four times (2016-19) with, disappointingly, no future matchups currently on the docket.

Just, you know, maybe be careful about calling out an opponent against which you hold a 1-3 record.

Stanford, Cal on Travel Plans

The reality of realignment is the ACC subjected itself to cross-country travel when it added Cal and Stanford. And, conversely, the former Pac-12 programs embraced a challenging itinerary for their athletes.

So, the big question: What's the plan?

Stanford coach Troy Taylor said the program will leave on Thursday for Saturday games, which Cal boss Justin Wilcox echoed. Additionally, both of them mentioned traveling on a larger airplane.

"We make sure we got a big plane, the biggest one that Delta makes. The big lie-down suites," Wilcox said. "There's going to be a good number of players who are really, really comfortable. You know us, the coaches and administrators, we'll sit in the back. We'll make sure the guys are well-fed, Gatorade and water."

No, that's not major football news. But there's also no denying that travel is a consequential part of the season for Cal and Stanford.

Big Ten Commish Talks NIL

Although the introduction of name, image and likeness (NIL) rights was inevitable, there is much to improve. Beyond state-to-state inconsistencies in legislation, NIL deals have created a messy environment.

Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti called for some changes.

"Additional transparency into third-party NIL deals and market norms will help stabilize college athletics and protect student-athletes," Petitti said in his prepared remarks.

"We need a process to evaluate true NIL deals," he said later. "We want student-athletes to be able to take advantage of their name and likeness. We need to make sure that's what's really happening."

Petitti also discussed increasing roster limits, but continued NIL reform will be the sport's main topic of off-field conversation for a while.

Riley on USC, Notre Dame

As always in these situations, let's be clear: This is not an attempt to dramatize a not-quite-controversial statement.

It simply grabbed my attention.

Asked whether USC would keep playing Notre Dame annually, Lincoln Riley toed a reasonable line of honest and noncommittal.

"Listen, we're not the first example of that," he told reporters in Indianapolis. "Look all the way across the country. There's been a lot of teams that sacrifice rivalry games."

For example, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State have not agreed on future nonconference games. UCLA and Cal have matchups on the schedule, but 2024 will bring a close to the uninterrupted streak since 1933. USC, meanwhile, is dropping Stanford from its annual slate.

Notre Dame, naturally, is the next question.

"I'm not saying that's what's going to happen," Riley said, "but as we get into this playoff structure and if it changes or not, we get into this new conference, we're going to learn some about this as we go and what the right and best track is to winning a national championship. That's going to evolve."

So, no, Riley and the Trojans aren't scared of Notre Dame. Yet I would hate to see realignment end another traditional series.

Day Addresses Michigan Woes

In five seasons as Ohio State's full-time coach, Ryan Day is 53-8 with three trips to the College Football Playoff, two Big Ten championships, a national runner-up finish and a Rose Bowl victory.

By nearly every standard, he's been hugely successful.

The problem, of course, is the Buckeyes have dropped three straight games to Michigan—and just watched the rival Wolverines win a national title. That losing skid has ratcheted up pressure on Day to the point that he's on a fascinating hot seat in 2024.

"After every year, you've got to identify what are the things that have held you back from reaching your goals, knowing that we want perfection and we want to win The Game at the end of the season," he told reporters.

Day continued:

"What we need to do is we need to leave no doubt. No doubt. Don't leave it to one play. Don't leave it to one call. Don't leave it to one stop. Leave no doubt when you're on the field."

Competing for a championship is always the ultimate goal, but Day clearly recognizes the pressure on him against Michigan.

Moore Not Giving QB Hints

Unfortunately for us, Sherrone Moore said exactly what we expected him to say about Michigan's quarterback competition.

In short: Nothing, really.

Moore told reporters that Alex Orji, Jack Tuttle and Davis Warren all have the attributes necessary to start at quarterback. Which is just a typical, annoying and very understandable brand of coachspeak.

As for when an announcement may arrive from offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell? Don't count on that, either.

"There's not really a date, there's not really a time," Moore said.

Orji remains the presumed front-runner, but the reigning champions won't be unveiling anything until fall camp.