By Kyle Golik
I find it comical how Notre Dame continues to believe in its illusion of independence. You have to figure with Notre Dame’s scheduling alliance with the ACC, it is showing the reluctance nationally of programs, or even those that Notre Dame would like to schedule, to schedule the Fighting Irish.
When you consider the rigors of conference play, teams typically don’t want to load up their out-of-conference schedule, they typically want a good Power 4 program, a solid Group of 5 opponent that should be a win but that can give a test, and then one or two money game opponents against a bad Group of 5 or FCS team.
Notre Dame’s charade of maintaining the purity of independence died in 2020 when it played in the ACC to have a football season. You also look at how Notre Dame backed Stanford and Cal into the ACC, which they compete in for all sports besides football and Hockey, they are simply independent by name only.
If you ask Penn State’s James Franklin, for the College Football Playoff to be successful, it needs to be standardized across the board nationally.
“I think the whole model needs to be looked at. But then if we do that, it will give nothing for you guys to talk about because this creates great dialogue for you guys to discuss and argue. But I think the biggest thing is you want to get the 12 best teams in the playoffs. That’s the obvious statement. But also I think there’s some tie-ins and things like that that make it challenging for that to happen. Also, everybody should be in a conference, and everybody should play a conference championship game,” Franklin said after Penn State was selected to host its first College Football Playoff game against SMU on Selection Sunday.
“Right now, you guys are trying to make decisions — I say you guys, but the College Football Playoff is trying to make decisions — and not everything is equal. Everybody should be playing the same number of conference games. Everybody should be in a conference. Everybody should be playing a conference championship game or not playing a conference championship game. I think that would really help. Just that would be a good starting point.”
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This isn’t just to pick on Notre Dame, half of the Power 4 play nine conference games in the Big Ten and Big 12. The SEC and ACC play eight games. This opens a scheduling loophole, especially in the SEC, where you have various cupcake Saturdays during when most of the nation is already knee-deep in conference play. Everyone enjoys scheduling a cupcake, but it seems SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and his league will be under unjust fire from its decision to play eight games. Sankey realizes the value of that inventory that a ninth game brings and holds it as his trump card against ESPN.
While Sankey has to stave off pressure from ESPN and pundits nationally, the SEC has arguably the most talented league in the nation playing fewer conference games, despite the business decision, only opens Pandora’s box of its truly genuine status.
Many SEC analysts point out to this year’s cannibalization in the league as every team at least lost two or more conference games – if you included Georgia’s SEC Championship Game win over Texas as a second conference loss to Texas.
I have no sympathy that Alabama lost to Vanderbilt or Oklahoma, South Carolina’s disappointing loss to LSU, or even Ole Miss’ strange loss to Kentucky or a surging Florida team. If Indiana had lost against Purdue, okay maybe a bad example but still, a 10-2 Indiana team, with a strength of schedule that wasn’t exemplary would be out.
Flip it the other way if Ohio State or Penn State were 9-3, ESPN would have no sympathy for either. I can hear Paul Finebaum roasting James Franklin for not winning a big game and Heather Dinich would not be making a claim for Ohio State to be a playoff team at 9-3.
While South Carolina got a whole lotta love – no Led Zeppelin pun intended, at the end of the season, Illinois who went 9-3 got none. Grant you, the Illini did not have the marquee Clemson win to hang its hat on, but they weren’t even invited to the conversation. I am hoping the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl will be a proving ground for them.
Circling back to Franklin’s comments, it is an inevitability the uneven standards are going to catch up to everyone. Some will sling mud back at the Big Ten and feel the teams scheduled softly, especially out of conference. I would argue that the conference champion Oregon scheduled a playoff team, Wisconsin scheduled Alabama, Michigan scheduled Texas, Penn State had West Virginia – which if you recall the fanfare in Week 1, you would have thought the events in Morgantown was the Super Bowl with The Pat McAfee Show making it more of a spectacle than it already is.
At some point, the Power 4 has to standardize and the College Football Playoff has to follow suit. It could be set up where the Power 4 each sends four teams to the playoff and you could have conference champions be crowned at neutral sites – can you imagine the Rose Bowl crowning the Big Ten, Sugar Bowl hosting the SEC, Peach Bowl hosting the ACC, and the Big 12 in the Cotton Bowl? Then having a Final Four between the Orange Bowl and Fiesta Bowl setting up a neutral site.
Like I said before and will say it again to ad nauseam, this committee does not want to give up its continental breakfasts and duty to watch football all day and probably get paid for it. I don’t blame them, neither would any of you. The Playoff has to get more standardization and objectivity. When you are arguing about who you want to see in a playoff versus who earned it on the field, that is a difference between an invitational and a playoff. Until then, we have an invitational, a/k/a playoff in name only.
