Happy Sunday, sports fans. This weekend was a set of unexpected upsets, last minute stands, blowouts, and just a bunch of fun. With Oklahoma St, Oregon, and Georgia all losing and the Bearcats taking care of business with Houston, Cincinnati will likely make history as the first Group of 5 playoff team. The GCR predicts Alabama (1) with the top seed and they will play those Bearcats (4) in one semifinal. Michigan (2) who trounced Iowa will face the SEC runner up Georgia (3) in the other. With UGA’s loss, Cincinnati is the only 13-0 team and only undefeated in the FBS (hats off to 11-0 Sam Houston (64) who are the only perfect FCS team).
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So, where does that leave Notre Dame (5)? Unless and until there is playoff expansion, probably to 12 which would allow enough at large spots, the Irish are going to be viewed by the committee almost like a G5+ team. A loss (in this year’s case only 1, granted at home, but to undefeated Cincinnati) is enough to provide a reason to leave them out. A 1-loss team that played in a conference championship (Georgia) will get precedence over a team sitting idle the first week of December. I don’t believe it is “fair”, whatever that means, and I understand tradition. With BYU moving to the Big 12, and Liberty and New Mexico St joining C-USA, it just leaves Army, UCONN, and UMASS (the latter two were both kicked out of conferences because they weren’t competitive enough) as Independents. There was a time when Indies made a difference and were a legitimate force in the game. That has been fading for decades with quality team after quality team joining up somewhere. With super conferences in the future (the SEC has already built a 16-team juggernaut and others will follow, eventually), there just won’t be room for an independent. Whether the ACC is the best conference for the Irish is worth a blog in itself (the short answer is no), but they need to be part of something. There’s my rant of the day.
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This year, though, the logic to leave them out is stronger than in other years: in addition to the 1-loss Georgia thing, the Irish did lose to Cincinnati, and in a comparison of SOS the Bearcats competition was 74-80 while the Irish faced squads that were 72-72. Cincinnati played 8 bowl eligible teams and 2 11-win teams while Notre Dame had 7 and 1 (and lost to the 1). Each year somebody has to be 5th. When the playoffs expand to 12, somebody will have to be 13th.
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In the FCS playoffs, congrats to Villanova and James Madison of the Colonial; Montana and Montana St from Big Sky; North Dakota St and South Dakota St from Missouri Valley; Sam Houston of the AQ7, and E Tennessee St from SoCon who will advance to the quarter finals. Also, in the FCS, congratulations to Jackson St for winning the SWAC and earning a bid in the Celebration Bowl.
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That’s it for this morning. The most current rankings are below. Thanks for checking it out. G
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