My Thoughts on the Aftermath of the College Football Selection Process
As a life-long USC football fan, the team I dislike the most is Notre Dame. And yet, in the week leading up to the College Football Playoff selection, I found myself stumping for Notre Dame in online discussions with BYU fans.
BYU fans were arguing that their one loss (at the time) against highly-ranked Texas Tech, made them more worthy for a slot in the college football playoff field than Notre Dame, which had TWO losses.
My argument was that while Notre Dame did have two losses, those losses came early in the season (the first two games) by a combined 4 points to top-ranked teams. The loss to Texas A&M was actually a one-point loss in overtime. Notre Dame had reeled off 10 straight victories since, all by double-digit margins.
By contrast, BYU’s one loss was a blowout. I further argued that BYU had a chance at revenge in the Big 12 championship game against the very team they had lost to and this time, the game would be played at a neutral site (though arguably the Texas location still favored Texas Tech). “Win and you’re in”, I argued. My argument didn’t seem to convince any BYU fans.
Ironically, the argument about who was more deserving between BYU and Notre Dame for a playoff spot turned out to be moot as the playoff committee snubbed both programs in favor of 3-loss Alabama and 2-loss Miami, who had beaten Notre Dame by 3 points in the opening game for both teams.
Notre Dame’s reaction to being left out of the playoff field has been meme-worthy to say the least. Picture the Michael Jackson eating popcorn meme.
In what I can only suppose is considered some kind of act of defiance, Notre Dame’s athletic director said that Notre Dame would not consider playing in a bowl game, given the fact that they were unfairly mistreated.
“We’ll show you!”, they seem to be saying.
Essentially, Notre Dame has decided that they are going to gather up all their toys and leave the sandbox. They suppose that this reaction will draw attention to the inequity and unfairness of the situation. I think, however, that it may have the opposite effect.
Is Notre Dame really being treated unfairly? I don’t think so.
Consider that Notre Dame is the only major college football program that doesn’t play in a conference. They’re independent. That means that they can schedule whomever they want and they don’t ever have to worry about conference championship games.
Yet even though they don’t belong to a conference, they get treated as a Power 4 program.
Notre Dame has their own TV deal, which makes slightly less than what Big 10 teams make but it provides them more flexibility in the scheduling of their games.
Additionally, when Notre Dame went to the playoffs last year, they didn’t have to share any of their playoff money with other conference members as other teams do. Last year’s payout for Notre Dame was about $20 million (more when you consider each round teams are given additional money for travel expenses). This was 3 times more than what Ohio State, the eventual champion, took home.
Notre Dame’s athletic director, Pete Bevacqua, the former chairman of NBC sports, blasted the ACC earlier this week, stating that the conference had done “irreparable damage” to their relationship.
Bevacqua was upset that the ACC had seemingly been stumping for Miami over Notre Dame to the college football playoff committee.
Why would Bevacqua be upset about this? Notre Dame is not a part of the ACC conference in football. Yes, they are in the ACC for all other sports and they do have an agreement to schedule games against 5 ACC opponents each year, but Notre Dame refuses to join the conference for football. They want the benefits of being an independent but they also want the benefits of being affiliated with a conference when it suits them.
You can’t have it both ways. It was entirely appropriate for the commissioner of the ACC to stump for Miami over Notre Dame to the playoff committee. After all, Miami is an ACC member. Notre Dame is not. The conference benefits financially when its members make the playoff field. They don’t when Notre Dame makes the field. If there is only one slot and it’s between Notre Dame and Miami, what logical reason would Pete Bevacqua have to EXPECT the ACC commissioner to promote Notre Dame over Miami?
Notre Dame is a legacy program, no doubt. They have national appeal and name brand recognition. But that doesn’t mean they should get favored treatment. The truth is that teams get snubbed all the time. Just ask the 2023 Florida State team. It happens. Deal with it.
What kind of message are you teaching your team and your fans when you whine about the outcome you didn’t like and decide that “we’re not going to play in your stupid bowl game”? It’s exactly the kind of response I expect from a spoiled elementary school kid. It’s not the response I’d expect from mature adults.
I spent the whole week extolling Notre Dame as being more deserving than BYU for a playoff spot and to be honest, the reaction I got from a number of BYU fans actually gave me, a life-long Notre Dame hater, a reason to like Notre Dame.
But with Notre Dame throwing their tantrum and exiting the Bowl selection process, while BYU has chosen to play Georgia Tech in the Pop Tarts Bowl, Notre Dame has once again given me and the entire college football world, every reason to dislike them.
The Lowedown 