Notre Dame Football: New playoff format puts Irish at disadvantage

Just about every team and conference can find some reason to be happy about the proposed College Football Playoff expansion, except Notre Dame football. 

It’s a good thing for Notre Dame football fans that the College Football Playoff hasn’t officially expanded. As much as it’s being talked about as fact, right now, the 12-team format is still just a recommendation.

However, unfortunately for Notre Dame, it seems likely to be adopted. Or at least something very similar to it.

On the face, there’s nothing bad about a 12-team playoff for Notre Dame. Heck, it should give the Irish a chance to get in without going undefeated or one loss, which was the bar previously, especially as an independent.

But when you really dig down deep in the playoff proposal, Notre Dame is sort of being punished in a way few other FBS programs are.

It comes down to the first-round byes which are tied to conference titles. Yes, the top four byes go to the highest-ranked conference champions. Using these rules, Notre Dame football would have been denied the bye as the No. 4 team last year in the playoff.

Even though the committee ranked Oklahoma fifth, since the Sooners would be a higher-ranked conference champion, Notre Dame would have had to play in the first round against the No. 12 seed.

Notre Dame will always need to win four games for a title

As one of the few relevant independents, BYU is probably the other, Notre Dame football wouldn’t be eligible for the bye unless it joined a conference, meaning it would always have to win four games, not three to capture the national championship.

That’s a huge disadvantage compared to teams such as Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State, which routinely win their leagues and would get a bye.

Theoretically, a team ranked 7th or 8th could move ahead of fourth-ranked Notre Dame to get the bye. Say the top three teams won the SEC, ACC, and Big Ten, then Notre Dame was fourth, followed by teams from the SEC and say Big Ten.

None of those teams would be eligible for the bye. It would go the next highest-ranked champion which could be lower in the pecking order if it has two losses.

It also means Notre Dame football could go 12-0 — against the toughest schedule in the country — and still be seeded behind a two-loss conference champion, which would earn the bye over the Irish in that scenario above.

It makes you think that this was intentional and a move to get Notre Dame football into a conference and subject to a conference title game like the rest of the college football world.

We’ll see if the Irish comply, but if they don’t and this proposal is enacted, Notre Dame will be incapable of ever getting a top-four seed or needing just three wins for a national title.