BY MIKE RIFKIN
On Sunday, the NCAA announced the 12 teams that will compete in the College Football Playoff. One team that didn’t hear their name called was the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Irish have made the CFP three times and as recently as 2024. Notre Dame finished the season 10-2, losing their first two games of the season. Ironically enough the two teams that defeated them Miami and Texas A&M will play each other in the first round of the playoff. Also, let’s not make it out that the Irish were blown out in either game, they lost the two games by a combined four points. The Irish do have some solid victories over USC and Pittsburgh, whom both were in the top 25 at the time of the game.
James Madison and Tulane are the schools the “experts” will say don’t deserve to be there, but they both won their respective conferences. Tulane even has a win over ACC champion Duke. But the team that shouldn’t be in the playoff is Alabama. Alabama has three losses on the season, which is what Madison and Tulane have combined. Alabama’s three losses were to Florida St (5-7), Oklahoma (10-2), and Georgia (12-1). Now the Georgia loss occurred in the SEC Championship game, Alabama did beat Georgia in the regular season. But the SEC title game was as non competitive as it gets, so my question would be are they counting the conference title games or does it not matter and what Alabama did during the season was enough?
Now, I am not one who wants the CFP to keep expanding, I don’t think it’s necessary. But are the Irish being penalized because they’re not in a conference, because that’s what it feels like. Where I disagree with Notre Dame is that they should want to play in a bowl game, for those seniors it’s a last chance to wear the jersey to the school they committed to, and for others it could be something to carry over into next season. Two wrongs don’t make a right, but Notre Dame has a right to be upset, and Alabama doesn’t deserve to be there. That’s not what you’ll hear, but it is true.
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