FWIW, SMU lost on the last play of game in the '24 ACC Championship game and was 11-1 heading into the game with its sole loss to a BYU team that finished 11-2 and in the Top 15..
Alabama had two losses already and got absolutely smoked by Georgia in the SEC Championship game.
I don't know what the right answer is with ND/Bama but not all CC losses are created the same.
Fair enough. That being said, it must be nice not to have to worry about playing in one
Why?
And again I have no understanding AT ALL why people want Notre Dame in a conference. Ive yet to hear even an OK explanation for it.
Notre Dame has an agreement that as an unaffiliated team, if they get ranked in the top 12 they are GUARANTEED a CFP spot. No other affiliated teams have this agreement. Since they have this guarantee they can?t be the first team out as a bubble team if a G5 team earns a playoff spot or another at large team has a victory over them.
So if Notre Dame is ranked 12, and a G5 team qualifies for the playoff. The 11th ranked team gets bounced, not Notre Dame, even if the 11th team has a head to head victory against Notre Dame
All this on top of the fact that they can?t be bounced for losing a conference championship game either. All because they made this agreement as an unaffiliated team. It essentially gives them a fast pass to the CFP as a bubble team
Oh yeah I thought you were referring to the current setup rather than the one for next year. This is slightly beneficial to ND and Im surprised it was accepted. Although my understanding is it was a concession to pave the way for all P4 champions to be guaranteed a spot (even 7-5 Duke) and a likely expansion to 14 teams.
That said, if you look at who has a more beneficial setup by week 14 CFP ranking:
1-9 no impact as evidenced by Bama staying at 9
10-12 advantage ND
12-25 advantage affiliated teams who can play their way into the playoff while ND cant
From the SECs perspective this is a bad deal as their champion will always be inside the top 10 anyway. The autobid is functionally useless for them. But for the vast majority of college football the benefit of affiliation allowing them to win their way in from a low seed outweights the benefit of having an edge as a bubble team.
I think it makes much more sense if the CFP DOES expand to 14 and if all P4 champions get autobids.
I dont buy this as the argument for ND joining a conference because prior to a few days ago no one even knew about this agreement and I still heard constant noise about people wanting ND to join one.
That?s fair. I?m sure from the other school?s perspective this is also a money issue as well, though I won?t lose any sleep over it, all these schools have way too much money to begin with
Topic: 2025-2026 College Football Season (Read 29260 times)