Notre Dame Football and why the rankings do matter

The great, modern American philosopher, Ricky Bobby, once said, “If you ain’t first, you’re last.” It applies to Notre Dame football.

College football fans in the the Playoff era — Notre Dame included — have the same mentality. If you’re not in the Top 4 and in the College Football Playoff, your rankings don’t matter. For many, the difference between 5th, 25th, and 105th is negligible.

After all, if you’re not in the Top 4 you can’t win a National Championship. If you’re a fan of a program who has championship aspirations, what difference does 5th or 15th make? Either way, you can’t win a National Championship.

As Notre Dame proved, that difference can still mean a lot.

By coming in at 15th, behind several teams with worse resumes and more losses, Notre Dame was kept out of the New Year’s 6, despite winning 10 games. In fact, once bowl affiliations were added to other bowls, their number 15 ranking sent the Irish to the Camping World Bowl.

This felt like an insult to a lot of Notre Dame fans.

Imagine, a 10-win Notre Dame team, going to a middling bowl against a 5 loss team? There were plenty of fans who felt the Irish shouldn’t even go to the Camping World Bowl, out of some misplaced protest with the bowl selection process.

This situation stinks. However, it could easily be different if the College Football Playoff Selection committee saw Notre Dame just a little bit differently.

Put Notre Dame ahead of a Penn State team who also went 10-2. Like the Irish, Penn State was good, just not elite this season. The committee liked the Nittany Lions more, though. So, Penn State will be in the Cotton Bowl as an at-large.

If the Irish could be ahead of 10-2 Alabama, who didn’t beat a team better than 7-5 all season, they’d be in the Citrus Bowl instead of the Camping World Bowl. Sure, it’s the same stadium just a few days later, but it would feel better for Notre Dame fans.

For all the fans who complained about how they don’t care that the Irish stagnated around 15-16 in the College Football Playoff rankings, those same fans are furious that Notre Dame got a bad bowl draw.

Recognize this — it is a double standard to say you only care about National Championships and then complain that the bowl you got was too minor. This is especially true when you were never going to win a National Championship this season.

Admit you care about Notre Dame’s rankings and their perception among people outside of the program.