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For many years now, fans of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have had a heavy dose of crap poured in our ears. How long have we heard that if Notre Dame ever wanted to win a national title again, they would have to join a conference?
A long time. It’s a sentiment that has only picked up more steam once college football decided to go as crazy as a single person on Tinder and start realigning everything. People from all walks of life were adamant that for the Irish to survive and be able to compete for a national title, they would HAVE to be in a conference because that conference title game was so darn important.
After being 4 points away in 2015, and looking at what the playoff committee is doing with the Big 10 this year... we can all call bullshit- big time.
Some theories suggest that the Big 10 has a scenario to get 3 teams in, although even the biggest conspiracy theorist around would say that would be highly unlikely. Still, the fact that Ohio State is pretty much a lock for the playoff despite even winning their own division, and the fact that even if Alabama loses the SEC title game, they are still in the playoff... well, that says this whole thing is more of a joke than a solution.
The only way that the college football world would have even had a chance to lock Notre Dame out of the playoffs is if there was a rule about being a conference champion as a prerequisite. They, of course did not make this rule- solely because the conferences wanted to be able to senf two teams if te rankings were right. A little bit of greed by others helped Notre Dame.
So, moving forward, there should NEVER be a discussion of Notre Dame HAVING to to join a conference to save their collective football asses from being left out. In fact, if it wasn’t for the extremely successful move of all of Notre Dame’s other sports to the ACC, I would argue that the ACC football half join is not a good arrangement at all. Sure there are other things that come along with football’s half ass in when it comes to schedule stability and bowl game options, but those are things that an AD could have managed much easier if we would have known something like non-divisional winners can be in the playoffs.
Notre Dame has a place for sure now (if we ever decide to win games again) and the fact that so many Big 10 teams are being looked at for a playoff bid only means that an 8 team playoff isn’t far behind, and that my friends puts Notre Dame in an even better position.
Rank | Team | Conference | Prev week | Week 13 result |
1 | Alabama, 12-0 | SEC | 1 | W vs. Auburn, 30-12 |
2 | Ohio State, 11-1 | Big Ten | 2 | W vs. Michigan, 30-27 |
3 | Clemson, 11-1 | ACC | 4 | W vs. South Carolina, 56-7 |
4 | Washington, 11-1 | Pac-12 | 5 | W at WSU, 45-17 |
5 | Michigan, 10-2 | Big Ten | 3 | L at Ohio State, 30-27 |
6 | Wisconsin, 10-2 | Big Ten | 6 | W vs. Minnesota, 31-17 |
7 | Penn State, 10-2 | Big Ten | 7 | W vs. Michigan State, 45-12 |
8 | Colorado, 10-2 | Pac-12 | 9 | W vs. Utah, 27-22 |
9 | Oklahoma, 9-2 | Big 12 | 8 | Bye |
10 | Oklahoma State, 9-2 | Big 12 | 10 | Bye |
11 | USC, 9-3 | Pac-12 | 12 | W vs. Notre Dame, 45-27 |
12 | Florida State, 9-3 | ACC | 14 | W vs. Florida, 31-13 |
13 | Louisville, 9-3 | ACC | 11 | L vs. Kentucky, 41-38 |
14 | Auburn, 8-4 | SEC | 13 | L at Alabama, 30-12 |
15 | Florida, 8-3 | SEC | 15 | L at FSU, 31-13 |
16 | West Virginia, 9-2 | Big 12 | 18 | W at Iowa State, 49-19 |
17 | Western Michigan, 12-0 | MAC | 21 | W vs. Toledo, 55-35 |
18 | Stanford, 9-3 | Pac-12 | 24 | W vs. Rice, 41-17 |
19 | Navy, 9-2 | AAC | 25 | W at SMU, 75-31 |
20 | Utah, 8-4 | Pac-12 | 22 | L at Colorado, 27-22 |
21 | LSU, 7-4 | SEC | NR | W at Texas A&M, 54-39 |
22 | Tennessee, 8-4 | SEC | 17 | L at Vanderbilt, 45-34 |
23 | Virginia Tech, 9-3 | ACC | NR | W vs. Virginia, 52-10 |
24 | Houston, 9-3 | AAC | 20 | L at Memphis, 48-44 |
25 | Pitt, 8-4 | ACC | NR | W vs. Syracuse, 76-61 |
For more, check out SBNation.com |