1. Notre Dame was ready to make this call... for a reason. Its been reported they've been worried about this possibility for multiple weeks.
2. When the call was made to not play in the bowl game, the REAL, most impactful reasons were getting a head start on portal recruiting, and guys like Jeremiah Love, and the many other draft eligible players more than likely opting out of playing in a bowl.
3. From a program development standpoint, missing out on the month's worth of extra practices is the worst part of their decision. If I'm a young 2 or 3 deep guy on ND's roster, and I have a fire to get better, I'm truly pissed off about this decision. Obviously they can still have workouts and such, but there's no substitute for actual practice reps, when preparing for actual games. So when Marcus Freeman starts in, at any point going forward, with coach speak about "building every day in practice", I'll be rolling my eyes.
4. Referring to number 1... Basically everything that needed to happen for Notre Dame, happened. And they still got left out. I personally don't think this was likely as close a decision as the committee made it out to be. I don't agree with Bama being in over Notre Dame. And I don't agree that two G5 teams should be in the playoff over Notre Dame, BYU, Texas, etc... But I think the biggest failure here, was the committee moving the goalposts and having different standards for different teams, throughout this year's CFP publications and communications.
5. I was certain we'd see Notre Dame at Oklahoma Sunday morning. And honestly, I didn't want any part of playing Notre Dame in the Rose Bowl. I think outside maybe playing either Oklahoma or Ole Miss, I think our draw was about as good as we could have possibly hoped for. If Bama doesn't get healthy between now and the Rose Bowl (if they win), then I think we'd handle them. But if they do get healthy, and get back what they had going in the middle part of the season, they're one of the top 3-4 teams in the country. Notre Dame IS one of the top 3-4 teams in the country, so lots of teams lucked out on them not making it.
6. ND almost made the CFP, should have made the CFP, whatever you want to say... despite going 1-2 against the only teams with heartbeats on their schedule. The only conference that would have helped their CFP chances, this year, would have been the ACC. They would have finished 8-1 in the ACC this year, and would have won the ACC championship game over Virginia. They would not have ran the table in the B10 or the SEC, so its more likely than not, they'd have had a harder path getting to the CFP in either of those conferences.
7. ND versus Miami... I think ND was the better team at the end of the year, but they lost head to head, and the overall resume was too similar to overrule the head to head, in my opinion. The committee should have kept them right near each other the last 2-3 ranking releases, with Miami ahead.
8. ND versus Bama... BYU got openly punished for losing in the B12 championship game, in a rematch. Bama didn't. I think they should have. And I think the committee needs to add the following caveat to evaluation criteria... "... and play well and be competitive in their conference championship games." The ACC shows that getting to the title game can be very convoluted and arbitrary. I think playing in conference title games IS very important...but once a team gets there, they should be "required" to actually show up and compete. THAT'S how you keep the conference championship setup alive and well. Gifting SEC and B10 participants, while not gifting other conference participants, is absurd. So... ND should have gotten in over Bama, not Miami, in my opinion. THAT is the calculus that changed this weekend that should have gotten them in.
9. Gotta come up with some sort of BCS metrics rating, or something. To ensure that there's only 1 G5 team every year. Or that if there are 2, that both of them are actual legit teams, that have competed with P4 teams during the season. Not many are talking about how absurd it is that Tulane AND JMU are in this years CFP. ND fans should be focusing on THAT, more than anything. And if they're not, and are o.k. with "that's just how the system played out this year", then well... the only reason ND didn't make it is because the system is flawed and that's how it played out. They didn't get singled out, obviously.
@kkott but then who would beat a number one seed Purdue in the first round? 😬
@iunorth love is rumored to be out with a major injury. Imho if that’s true I’m wondering if that was kept so quiet as to avoid an FSU scenario.
@d-b-cooper Could be. He came back in the Stanford game, I thought, after the initial injury. But maybe after the game they found something out? Or maybe something happened in practice since the Stanford game? Lots of layers of crap in this whole thing, that's for sure.
Personally, I think ND had a better resume than Miami & probably on par with Bama.
I'll never be convinced that they didn't get hosed by the committee though. There's just no logical consistency.
- Bama gets a nudge over ND because they showed guts in barely beating a 5-7 Auburn team. But then they turn around and get smoked by UGA and don't move a spot. Disagree, but okay.
- But then BYU gets blown out by TT and they lose spots?
- And the committee chair goes on TV and says they had determined prior to championship week that ND deserved 10 over BYU and BYU deserved 11 over Miami. The math there would indicate that A > B > C = A > C. But it looks like the formula they used was A > C if and only if B exists in the middle. Which then means that ND was out of luck regardless because BYU loses & falls or BYU wins & rises above ND, leaving ND next to Miami still.
- Other than a made for tv event, what's the point of having the weekly rankings show if a team can fall two spots out of the playoffs after winning & then being idle....and being passed by a team that won a bad game & then lost and another team that was also idle?
- The chair saying the told members to go back & watch the week 1 game is out of place when they're all about "the best 12 teams now." Like, you lose your coach, that can count against you. You have an injured player, that can count against you. But if you lose to two 8-4 teams and your best win is against ND, they can rely on a 3-point road loss in week 1? The committee had over a month to rank Miami ahead of ND and didn't until it came to nut cuttin time. I personally believe it was rolling over for the SEC (keeping Bama in) and the ACC (because they'd otherwise be shutout) to keep people happy vs any kind of principled stand.
Again, although I disagree, I think there are reasonable enough arguments to be made that Miami had a better resume. But ND got absolutely screwed in the process of the whole thing. Just looks crooked.
@tmft I think how they went about ranking throughout the process, and describing the reasons for it, just give all these conspiracy theories oxygen.
Realistically, there's basically a zero percent chance they purposefully screwed Notre Dame out of a spot. In the end, this entire thing is a business. And Notre Dame will never not get the benefit of the doubt, as much as any system can allow it, because of how much money they represent.
I think the only potential nefarious thing that could have happened, with regards to Notre Dame, is they got used for ratings, interest, click bait, etc... the entire process. I think the committee knew the last month, that if both ND and Miami won out, that they'd put Miami in over ND. And they knew the entire season that the 2 SEC championship game participants would get in, no matter what the results were. So showing ND ranked higher than Bama, then flipping them for no apparent good reason last week...is an indicator they never had any plans for ND to bump the SEC title game loser. And then the whole Miami became "close enough" to Notre Dame in the rankings, because they dropped BYU... ehhhhhhhhhh...
It was obvious to everyone after Saturday's games that there were 3 teams for 2 spots: ND, Bama, and Miami.
Personally I would have left out Alabama, not just for the blowout loss to Georgia but also for barely beating an bad Auburn team in the game before, losing to FSU, and being a 3 loss team. Miami > ND > Bama.
But the committee apparently valued strength of schedule above all else and put Bama in.
Then, that decision made... it was Miami and ND for one spot, and logically their head-to-head game mattered. Why did it not seem to matter in earlier rankings? Because it was never an either-or choice, then. It was 3-5 teams in a pack and there was obviously no round robin head-to-head or even a critical mass of common opponents, so other things were considered.
"You can't make someone listen to reason if they aren't willing to think"-- Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
@shooter After last year's SEC outcry, they were always going to keep the SEC title game runner up, especially if it was a name like Bama or Texas. The rankings flip last week, after Notre Dame destroyed Stanford, and Bama nearly lost to Auburn... is more than enough evidence of that.
So, while I agree with you that it SHOULD have been ND in over Bama, and not Miami. That ranking shift last week made it ND v Miami. And I think setting the precedent that head to head isn't overly important, was something many involved...committee and NCAA and money influence... were not prepared to do. They just got caught in the end, with how they had ranked ND throughout the rankings process.
If it were legit, they probably should have had them ranked higher... Oregon 5, Texas AM 6, ND 7...etc... If there resume was good enough for them to be that heavily considered, despite going 1-2 in their only games against CFP ranked teams... then that's because of how good they looked, overall, so at that point, rank them where they deserved to be ranked.
I think many understand why the CFP committee chose Miami over Entitled U. But pulling the rug out from under Touchdown Jesus at the 11th hour is brutal (and sacrilegious). And the whole "we couldn't compare the two teams unless they were right next to each other" bullshit is utterly absurd.
So yeah, ND got a raw deal ... but it’s great to witness the "South Bend Meltdown" in real time. Any time something bad happens to Notre Dame football or Duke basketball, an angel gets its wings.
Personally, I think ND had a better resume than Miami & probably on par with Bama.
I'll never be convinced that they didn't get hosed by the committee though. There's just no logical consistency.
- Bama gets a nudge over ND because they showed guts in barely beating a 5-7 Auburn team. But then they turn around and get smoked by UGA and don't move a spot. Disagree, but okay.
- But then BYU gets blown out by TT and they lose spots?
- And the committee chair goes on TV and says they had determined prior to championship week that ND deserved 10 over BYU and BYU deserved 11 over Miami. The math there would indicate that A > B > C = A > C. But it looks like the formula they used was A > C if and only if B exists in the middle. Which then means that ND was out of luck regardless because BYU loses & falls or BYU wins & rises above ND, leaving ND next to Miami still.
- Other than a made for tv event, what's the point of having the weekly rankings show if a team can fall two spots out of the playoffs after winning & then being idle....and being passed by a team that won a bad game & then lost and another team that was also idle?
- The chair saying the told members to go back & watch the week 1 game is out of place when they're all about "the best 12 teams now." Like, you lose your coach, that can count against you. You have an injured player, that can count against you. But if you lose to two 8-4 teams and your best win is against ND, they can rely on a 3-point road loss in week 1? The committee had over a month to rank Miami ahead of ND and didn't until it came to nut cuttin time. I personally believe it was rolling over for the SEC (keeping Bama in) and the ACC (because they'd otherwise be shutout) to keep people happy vs any kind of principled stand.
Again, although I disagree, I think there are reasonable enough arguments to be made that Miami had a better resume. But ND got absolutely screwed in the process of the whole thing. Just looks crooked.
BYU was ranked 11 the prior week, so they would have been left out with both Tulane and JMU in.
The committee couldn't leave Miami out if it was between them and ND. Games do matter, and Miami won that game.
So change the rules in the middle of the year?Like others have said, join a conference.
There’s really no question that ND is one of the 12 best teams in college football, but entry into the playoff isn’t really geared toward amassing the top 12. Their reality is governed by their refusal to join a conference. Until they do, they’re going to be vulnerable to exclusion from the tournament unless the rules are altered (expansion or qualifiers).
The playoff system is rewarding winning. That is an objective way to determine a top 12, more than just saying "wow, ND is playing great right now".
Other than us, what other team has won their last 10 besides ND? Their two losses were by single digits to two playoff teams. Do you really believe JMU and Tulane are better than ND? I’m not a Domer by any stretch of the imagination, but neither of those two teams would stay close to ND.
Exactly…take Tulane and JMU out and put the teams that are rightly #11 and #12 in the bracket. Now JMU is going to fly across the country and get smoked while no one watches the 7:30 playoff game. These people could have Sydney Sweeney naked and not know what to do
There are MANY issues the committee needs to address for future CFPs, but first and foremost is eliminating automatic G5 bids. If a G5 team qualifies by ranking, then fine. But they're not owed a seat at the table.
Why not create a G5 playoff (somewhat like an NIT equivalent)? I don't know how well that would be received by fans, sponsors, etc., but it's better than letting a G5 (or two, in this year's case) into the CFP to get blasted ... and to steal a spot (or spots) from deserving teams.
Bevacqua (ND AD) went on the DP Show this morning and blamed the ACC for lobbying for Miami over ND and claimed the ACC has "certainly done permanent damage to the relationship between the conference and Notre Dame.”
What in the hell does he expect the ACC to do? ND wants to football to be independent, which means they aren't part of the ACC for football and also wouldn't share any of the CFP money. Miami is an ACC member and would share rev with the conference. This is such a BS case to make. I was good-naturedly poking fun at ND for not making it, but after declining all bowls and blaming a conference of which they're not a member, it's just so freaking soft. You're either an Independent or you're a member of a conference. I hope the ACC punts the other sports out of the ACC. Let ND go to the Big East for the other sports. Maybe they'll let them have it both ways. They certainly wouldn't advocate for a different football team in the CFP.
What a rat faced asshole
https://twitter.com/dpshow/status/1998064300691165574
https://irishsportsdaily.com/s/26681/notre-dame-ad-pete-bevacqua-transcript-dan-patrick-show
Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for. - Seamus Heaney, Irish poet and likely Hoosier basketball fan.
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