Notre Dame football: CFP expansion stalls, bad news for the Irish

Stalling the expansion of the College Football Playoff to twelve teams is not good news for the Notre Dame football program.

When the college football working group that included Greg Sankey, Bob Bowlsby, Craig Thompson, and Jack Swarbrick announced a recommendation for the College Football Playoff to expand to twelve teams, fans exploded in excitement. It was also, largely, misinterpreted as a thing that would be happening as soon as possible.

Still, there was momentum behind the decision.

Then, Oklahoma and Texas announced they were leaving the Big 12 for the SEC and college football went into a frenzy. That frenzy included the other Power 5 commissioners trying to consolidate power and prevent the SEC from becoming bigger than the sport. It meant trying to kill, or at least adjust, Playoff expansion to show that Sankey couldn’t do whatever he wanted.

The season went on. The debates went on. Commissioners came together, they talked, they got nothing accomplished. During that time, every commissioner but one seemed to want to expand in some way. They just couldn’t agree on how they wanted to expand. That one holdout was Jim Phillips, commissioner of the ACC.

He’s said that expansion shouldn’t occur until after NIL and transfers are observed and better understood. It was a poor excuse, and one he shouldn’t be making given his conference’s standing in the sport. Some even thought it was an attempt to strong-arm Notre Dame into joining the ACC.

No matter what Phillips’ thoughts were, he got his way. There needs to be a unanimous vote to expand the College Football Playoff. Without that, expansion isn’t possible during the current contract that runs through 2026. This means the College Football Playoff is stuck at four teams.

For Notre Dame football, this is bad news

As of now, Notre Dame football has a special deal of sorts. The Irish don’t have to be in a conference to make it to the College Football Playoff. However, they can’t lose a game, or they’re automatically out of contention for the Playoff. Other teams, like Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, and Ohio State can lose and still make the Playoff.

Expansion, which Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick was helping to design, would give Notre Dame more opportunities to make the CFP with a loss.

Now, by the model offered over the summer, Notre Dame football could never have a first-round bye because they didn’t win a conference, but they also wouldn’t have to be perfect to get there. As of now, Notre Dame has been two the Playoff twice. They would have made it at least twice more in the Playoff era if it was a twelve-team format.

So, instead of getting that easier path, the Irish will have to keep playing a perfect regular season to make it to the CFP. Next year, Notre Dame plays Ohio State, Clemson, and Lincoln Riley’s USC, let alone the rest of their schedule. The odds of being a great football team are pretty high for the Irish. The odds of going unbeaten with that schedule are pretty low.

It’s a shame that the well-paid adults couldn’t do their jobs. Now, most programs in college football have it worse off. That includes Notre Dame.