Ohio State Football: CFP for OSU and OU but not ND?
Do Conference Championships Matter?
Leaving out Notre Dame will send a message that they need to join a conference because of the playoff format. Currently, it is a four team playoff with five Power 5 conferences. There is simply no room for an FBS Independent or a Group of 5 team in a year like this year.
However, if this year was similar to last year then Notre Dame would easily be selected over non conference champion Alabama or 2-loss Ohio State.
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If Notre Dame can be evaluated based on twelve games then why can’t other teams unless they are unequivocally better than their competition. For example, Alabama and Notre Dame have both played twelve games this year and won all twelve.
What if the Tide lose and get left out because they played a thirteenth game? But Notre Dame could be sitting at home when they could neither win nor lose.
Under this four team playoff, when it is a year like this with four Power 5 conference champions with one or fewer losses, Notre Dame should be seriously re-evaluated or be told to join a conference to eliminate this debate. Leaving out multiple conferences each year is bad for the sport and the commissioners will not stand for it for very long.
Notre Dame should be given an ultimatum that they either have to join a conference to receive an invitation to the playoff. Or take their chances with only playing twelve games and accept being left out if there are other conferences with teams more qualified.
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Conference championships should matter and if they do not then why do the teams need to play them and risk injuries or a loss? The playing field needs to be created equally and fairly with a concrete criteria for earning an invitation to play in the College Football Playoff.