The Notre Dame football team was announced as the No. 10 team in the initial CFP rankings, and we list why that is too low for the Irish.
In the initial CFP Rankings, Notre Dame football was announced as the number 10 team in the nation. At a glance, it seemed fair. After all, the Irish might be 8 in the AP Poll, but it was only a week ago they were number 11. Someone in that range is usually just a difference of opinion when moving from a base of writers to administrators deciding the poll.
However, when you look a little closer, you can see flaws in the logic, doublespeak, and other issues with Notre Dame’s initial Playoff Ranking.
Mind you, there are inherent issues to this system. The most important of those issues is the criteria that they don’t base the rankings off who is most deserving, but who they feel the “best” teams are. In other words, it’s subjective and they can do what they please with the result being “I feel,” rather than “I know.”
It’s also a committee of people who may know football or have been around it for a long time but also have a vested interest. These are athletic directors, former players, and coaches, and biases are inherent in all humans.
In other words, it’s a subjective ranking system based on human error and it ends in exclusion. Perfect system. This all may be subjective, but Notre Dame is still too low. Here are three reasons why:
Notre Dame football: 3 reasons the Irish are too low in initial CFP rankings
They’re Artificially Low to Keep Cincinnati Down
Let’s briefly play conspiracy. Cincinnati is currently ranked 2nd in the AP Poll, but 6th in the Playoff Rankings. Everyone knows there is a glass ceiling over Group of Five teams, no matter how good they are. Cincinnati, some people thought, had a shot at breaking that glass ceiling.
That clearly won’t happen now, and it’s seemingly by design.
Thinks about the backend of the rankings. SMU and Houston are both ranked in the AP Poll, and deservedly so, but they’re unranked in the Playoff Rankings. Instead, a laundry list of B1G 10 West teams are taking up prime real estate. Why? Because they will help to artificially inflate the B1G East teams. After all, Minnesota (who lost to Bowling Green) is currently Ohio State’s only ranked win in their top-25.
Notre Dame is Cincinnati’s best win and that’s not going to change. If you follow, they can’t afford to have a strong strength of schedule or resume for the glass ceiling to stay intact without lawsuits flying. So, the Irish are ranked lower than they should be to help keep Cincinnati down.
Yes, this is a bit of a conspiracy, but the truth is that it’s also how they operate.
Notre Dame football: 3 reasons the Irish are too low in initial CFP rankings
Who Has Michigan Beaten?
Michigan is a one-loss team that is ranked 7th in the country, according to the latest College Football Playoff Poll. Up until this past Saturday, they had been unbeaten, when they lost to Michigan State. They lost to Michigan State for all the continual issues Jim Harbaugh has continually had at Michigan. The offense stalled and settled for field goals. They didn’t look comfortable with the lead and blew a two-score lead in a big game.
Michigan had very quietly gotten to be unbeaten, and it begs the question, who did they beat?
Their out-of-conference schedule saw them beat two MAC schools and a dysfunctional Washington team, never once leaving The Big House. In the B1G 10, they beat Rutgers, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Northwestern. Out of that group of four, only one is a mildly impressive opponent-Wisconsin. Notre Dame has beaten them too, and if we’re being honest, Wisconsin isn’t an intimidating opponent.
So, why is Michigan still getting so much credit? They have shown who they are year in and year out. They’ll beat those bad teams that they’ve played and will lose to the good ones. This year they just have a very backloaded schedule, which is why their record looks better than they are.
Of course, all of this should work itself over time, but that’s not the point. For now, Michigan is way too high.
Notre Dame football: 3 reasons the Irish are too low in initial CFP rankings
Notre Dame Is Better Than Several Unbeaten Teams
One very important thing is to remember that it is not the job of the selection committee to select the four most deserving teams or to rank teams from most deserving to least deserving. It’s their job to rank the teams that are the best from 1-25, based on what they’ve done in the games they’ve played. It’s a flawed and subjective way to go about doing things.
However, it is the way college football currently does things, so it may as well do them properly. There are at least two unbeaten teams ahead of Notre Dame that the Irish are better than.
Wake Forest comes in at number 9, but they’re not that good. For one, their defense isn’t anything special. They also don’t recruit athletes at the same level as anyone else in the top-10 (including Cincinnati), and Notre Dame is littered with more talent than them. That much you can see just by watching the two of them side by side.
Wake Forest also hasn’t played a remotely challenging schedule, which means that they haven’t looked as impressive as a school like Notre Dame against worse competition.
Oklahoma, which is ranked 8th, should have lost to Tulane and Kansas. They got credit for benching the pre-season Heisman frontrunner. Well, where is Brian Kelly’s credit for juggling three quarterbacks and not almost losing to a bad team? Oklahoma’s defense has regressed and on offense, they’ve had to turn to a freshman with a limited grasp on the playbook. They’re not better than the Irish.
Notre Dame football: Games to keep an eye on in 2021 Week 10 slate
The Notre Dame football team has a chance to continue to move up the rankings, and here are two games to keep an eye on this weekend.
Of course, that’s before you consider the one-loss schools like Oregon, Michigan, or even Ohio State. In other words, based on the language of who is best, there are a lot of teams that Notre Dame looks better than who is currently ahead of them in the rankings. There is time for that to change, but it’s still an issue for now.