2025-2026 College Football Season

[Moranis]

Duke upsets Virginia. We officially have chaos!

I don't think that one is all that chaotic unless not having an ACC champ makes the committee more strongly look at Miami.  James Madison will just be in as the 5th conference champ along with Tulane as the 4th conference champ as there is no way 8-5 Duke should jump ahead of those teams which were ranked last week and won their conference championships this week.

I do wonder what they will do with Ohio State. Do they just drop to 2 or does Georgia and maybe Texas Tech move ahead of them?  I know OSU won't drop past 4, but I can see arguments for 2, 3, or 4.  I think they will be 3 with Georgia at 2 and Tech at 4.  The only other real intrigue is 9 and 10.  What do they do with Bama, ND, and Miami (I'd have Tezas in that mix, but I don't think the committee will)?  That is the most interesting thing to me

[tenn_smoothie]

Duke upsets Virginia. We officially have chaos!

No kidding. Duke, then Indiana the only undefeated team left ? Is it basketball season ?

I strongly agree with Moranis about the importance of those big non-conference matchups that the blue-bloods have been able to schedule without it ruining their season if they lost. The Vols have had great rivalry series with Notre Dame, UCLA and Penn State in the past that have gone by the wayside. Tennessee still plays an annual out-of-conference opponent, usually a good team, but with the SEC going to a 9-game conference schedule, the future of even those games is in some doubt. Greed for more money is destroying a once great sport.

[Birdman]

Georgia should win it all

[Donoghus]

I?d go

1) Indiana
2) Georgia
3) Ohio St
4) Texas Tech

Avoid the Indiana/Ohio State rematch until a potential national title game.

[Donoghus]

They just revealed the bracket

1) Indiana
2) Ohio St
3) Georgia
4) Texas Tech
5) Oregon
6) Ole Miss
7) Texas A&M
Oklahoma
9) Alabama
10) Miami
11) Tulane
12) James Madison

First out: Notre Dame
Second out: BYU

So H2H did end up coming into play in the end with Miami & ND

[Birdman]

Norte Dame should got in not Alabama

[greg683x]

Norte Dame should got in not Alabama

Why?  What is Notre Dames signature win?  If you?re not going to join a conference and have a schedule full of cupcakes then you need to beat the two good teams you face.  They didn?t.

Also, punishing teams for losing a conference title game would be terrible for the sport.

[Moranis]

Notre Dame played 10 power 4 conference teams and the 2 that weren't were Mountain West champ Boise Sttae and Navy that went 7-1 in the American and just missed a chance to play for a playoff birth.  ND's schedule was fine, the issue was losing to the 2 best teams it played including 1 it was competing with for a playoff spot..

The bigger issue is ND just dropping down the rankings the last few weeks for no real or apparent reason.  I mean in week 14 ND was 9 and Bama was 10. Bama barely beats Auburn and ND beats Stanford by 4+ TD's and yet in week 14 Bama is now 9 and ND is 10.  In week 14, BYU was 11 and Miami was 12, which was the same in week 15.  Week 16 rankings after Bama and BYU both get absolutely destroyed by top 4 teams, the new rankings have Bama still at 9, Miami now 10, with ND 11 and BYU 12.  There is no logical explanation for those 3 weeks of rankings.  That is the real issue. 

[Moranis]

Plus they also put a 3 loss team in that was not a conference champion that lost by 14 points to a 5-7 team, got destroyed by 21 points in the last game it played, and barely beats several other bad teams.  That is a much worse precedent. Bama did not belong in the playoff.  It is there solely because it beat Georgia early in the season even after getting destroyed in the return game.

[greg683x]

Plus they also put a 3 loss team in that was not a conference champion that lost by 14 points to a 5-7 team, got destroyed by 21 points in the last game it played, and barely beats several other bad teams.  That is a much worse precedent. Bama did not belong in the playoff.  It is there solely because it beat Georgia early in the season even after getting destroyed in the return game.

Why should teams be punished for making it to a conference title game?  It should hold no weight on the playoff unless winning your conference gets you in.

Arguing Alabama and Notre Dame is wild.  The joke is that they let JMU in over Notre dame

Also, maybe this is a nudge to get Notre dame affiliated

[Donoghus]

Notre Dame just opted out a bowl game.

[Ilikesports17]

Plus they also put a 3 loss team in that was not a conference champion that lost by 14 points to a 5-7 team, got destroyed by 21 points in the last game it played, and barely beats several other bad teams.  That is a much worse precedent. Bama did not belong in the playoff.  It is there solely because it beat Georgia early in the season even after getting destroyed in the return game.

Why should teams be punished for making it to a conference title game?  It should hold no weight on the playoff unless winning your conference gets you in.

Arguing Alabama and Notre Dame is wild.  The joke is that they let JMU in over Notre dame

Also, maybe this is a nudge to get Notre dame affiliated

Also, maybe this is a nudge to get Notre dame affiliated

I see this a lot. Why do people want this???

Plus the committee made it clear losing conference title game DOES matter because they dropped BYU. In fact every single conference championship game loser prior to this has dropped at least one spot in the rankings.

Ultimately I dont think ND can complain. They played 2 good teams and lost to both. But the committee is really a disaster with so much inconsistency.

Miami and Bama > ND honestly makes plenty of sense to me (same with BYU frankly). But the trajectory of rankings doesnt make any sense.

[greg683x]

Plus they also put a 3 loss team in that was not a conference champion that lost by 14 points to a 5-7 team, got destroyed by 21 points in the last game it played, and barely beats several other bad teams.  That is a much worse precedent. Bama did not belong in the playoff.  It is there solely because it beat Georgia early in the season even after getting destroyed in the return game.

Why should teams be punished for making it to a conference title game?  It should hold no weight on the playoff unless winning your conference gets you in.

Arguing Alabama and Notre Dame is wild.  The joke is that they let JMU in over Notre dame

Also, maybe this is a nudge to get Notre dame affiliated

Also, maybe this is a nudge to get Notre dame affiliated

I see this a lot. Why do people want this???

Plus the committee made it clear losing conference title game DOES matter because they dropped BYU. In fact every single conference championship game loser prior to this has dropped at least one spot in the rankings.

Ultimately I dont think ND can complain. They played 2 good teams and lost to both. But the committee is really a disaster with so much inconsistency.

Miami and Bama > ND honestly makes plenty of sense to me (same with BYU frankly). But the trajectory of rankings doesnt make any sense.

People think Notre dame should become affiliated bc it would force them to compete for a conference championship and I think would put more pressure on them to schedule some of the tougher teams in whichever conference they?re in.

I completely agree with your assessment of Notre Dame.  As far the trajectory goes from the committee, I agree it?s a head scratcher, maybe the committee should save themselves some embarrassment and just not release weekly rankings unless they can thoroughly explain the reason for movement.


BYU is in a weak conference and got completely dismantled by their biggest opponent in the conference.  I think if the mid season game against TT had been competitive there would have been more of a case.  Most people assumed the big12 was going to be a one bid conference

[Moranis]

ND played Miami, A&M, and USC this year.  Plus the 3rd best team is the 4th/5th best conference (Navy) and perennial conference winner Boise St. in addition to 5 other ACC teams and another SEC and Big Ten team.  That is a better schedule than A&M and Ole Miss.  Frankly it is comparable to Oregon and Ohio State's schedules as well (prior to OSU playing IU).  They don't have a terrible loss like Bama or Texas.  If ND had played someone like Missouri instead of A&M and won that game, they would have been in (same argument i made re. Texas and the OSU game).  The committee is incentizing teams to not play games like that. That is bad for the sport.