This weekend has seen some pretty scorching hot takes on Notre Dame football. The takes are so flaming right now that they’ll heat your entire home this winter. There are many college football fans who have a lot of bones to pick with the Fighting Irish, and their selection into the college football playoff.
These Irish deriders feel their position is justified by the fact that Clemson has opened as an 11.5 point favorite over the Irish in the Cotton Bowl. Most of the vitriol for ND stems from the fact that they are independent, and thus didn’t have to play in a conference title game.
I put "some good teams" because we don't know where everyone else is ranked in these CFP top 25 rankings yet.. But here's Notre Dame's resume: Michigan is 10-2; Stanford’s 8-4; Syracuse is 9-3; Northwestern is 8-5. No FCS opponents in there. And no stumbles along the way. https://t.co/fyWgpa8qTr
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 2, 2018
As today is a day that’s about debate first and foremost (and you thought it was about bowl selection/placement), let’s address all of the arguments being made against Notre Dame football making the final four.
Conference Championship Games are Overrated, Sorry
If you subscribe to the “ND was sitting on the couch today, therefore they don’t belong” theory, well then you must also shun every team that didn’t win its division and/or conference. In order for your argument to be legitimate it needs to be consistent, and if you’re going to be consistent then you must also say “no teams that didn’t win their conference.”
Over the years the committee has sent the message that conference title games don’t matter all that much, and this time they definitely conveyed that idea emphatically.
Notre Dame Football Will Join a Conference If/When it Hurts their Playoff Chances
ND has their own television contract, as well as the ability to schedule just about anybody anywhere any time due to the cachet of their brand. You, fans of other teams, don’t like that very much. Well, if you were running a college football program and you were able to survive and thrive by doing it this way, wouldn’t you?
They have a great deal with NBC, and although it’s nowhere near the advantage it was 10, 15, 20 years ago, it’s still powerful and important enough that it inspires hatred among rival fan bases.
Maybe ESPN doesn’t like it either. Given the manner in which their talking heads spoke about the Fighting Irish, it would certainly appear so. However, the bottom line is this- if the era comes where ND is consistently left out due to their not playing a 13th game…then, and only then will they be joining the ACC (uhm, I mean a conference).
The Notre Dame Football Schedule Was a Double Edged Sword
On the final weekend of the regular season, Notre Dame was the only team in the nation with four wins over teams ranked in the top 25 (Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Michigan and Northwestern). Two of those teams played in their conference championship game with a third having the opportunity to do so had they won their season finale.
The Irish won all the games in front of them, which is of course the point of this exercise. It’s not the fault of ND that Stanford is down, or that Florida State was historically, ridiculously far below what they usually are, or that blue blood USC was mediocre at best. You can’t blame Brian Kelly or Jack Swarbrick for the Pac 12 being bad. When you looked at the Irish schedule back in the summer, it looked massively formidable.
Just Win, Baby or Best Teams vs. Most Deserving Teams
You can argue that Notre Dame might not be favored to win against Georgia, or that UGA might be a better team. However, the CFP is about the four most deserving teams, not the four best. Their stated goal is the four best, but that’s just marketing/lip service. Notre Dame earned their 12-0 record gold and blue, through and through.
Look at how they went coast to coast and everywhere in between over the course of the final month, They played in all kinds of different venues against teams with varying styles. They even gave up a home game and played that contest in the opponent’s state. All in all, they beat teams from six different conferences and most of the time it was done in convincing fashion.
You’ve let Emperor Palpatine Win
The major problem with far too many of the arguments being made against Notre Dame Football is that those making them are blinded by their hate. “I feel your anger,” Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious famously said. “Give in to your hate,” he added.
Many of you truly have. I don’t really care if you love ND, hate them or have mixed emotions about them. Just don’t let that cloud your judgements here. If you looked at this with a “blind resume” analysis, side-by-sides with question marks, you definitely would not be saying the type of things that you’re currently saying about Notre Dame football.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Lineups.com and Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.