Playoff rankings preview a disappointing end to Notre Dame season
The College Football Playoff committee doesn’t seem to want to show Notre Dame much love.
The latest College Football Playoff rankings came out on Tuesday night, and Notre Dame came in at 16th. That’s the same as the Irish were last week, despite Notre Dame humiliating a then ranked opponent on Saturday.
Among the teams ahead of Notre Dame is a three-loss Auburn, who rocks an anemic offense. Meanwhile, the top tier Group of Five teams come in at 17 and 18, pounding at the door to pass the Irish.
With a couple of limited exceptions, teams don’t make a New Year’s Six Bowl without being ranked at least 12th. Without a conference to win, Notre Dame’s odds go down even more.
It seems like a 10-2 record won’t be good enough to make a NY6 Bowl this season, as it might have been in other seasons.
Other than making for a dull, anticlimactic bowl game, this is bad news for Brian Kelly. Just picture it, Brian Kelly coaching the Camping World Bowl. If Notre Dame wins, then it’s just another season. It’s even a bit of a disappointing season. Lose, and the cries for your job get even louder.
The narrative about being good, just not good enough, grows. Notre Dame turns in another 3 loss season, and the fans grow more anxious, waiting to taste the highest level of success once again.
Now, imagine that loss in the Camping World Bowl is to a team like Iowa State. The Cyclones are coached by Matt Campbell, who is among the names that fans are excited about potentially replacing Kelly.
The outcry would be ridiculous.
Let’s make this clear: Brian Kelly is a good coach. Notre Dame in the 21st century is not an easy place to win. It would be a mistake for Notre Dame to move on from Kelly. The cost of a buyout, potentially two buyouts when considering they’d need to hire a new coach, mixed with the chance of regression is not worth it.
The Irish are staring down a 10 win season. That, on the surface, is a good season. Very few people projected they’d win road games against Georgia and Michigan. At best, it would be an 11 win season.
It looks like Notre Dame is heading towards a who cares bowl game despite hitting on their regular season win expectations. That’s just bad luck, and shouldn’t be put on anyone within the Notre Dame program.
Top Stroylines vs. BC. dark. Next
Still, the goal should be to win a NY6 game, and not making one would certainly be a disappointment. Unfortunately, unless there’s a major shake-up, Tuesday night’s rankings show that the Irish on a collision course with a disappointing outcome to their season.