Notre Dame might have pulled on okey doke with College Football Playoffs format
When the initial format for the 12-team College Football Playoffs was announced, there was much talk about how the Notre Dame football team might have finally been “punished” for not joining a conference.
After all, because they’re an independent program, they’re the only FBS school that cannot get a top-four seed in the playoffs. Those are reserved for conference champions only.
Some even believed that the highest seed the Notre Dame football team could get, being the No. 5 seed, might finally spur the Fighting Irish to join a conference. But what if this is precisely the way ND wanted it. What if this format was always about getting the best of both worlds? And what if the Irish were perfectly happy not getting a first-round bye if it meant they could have an easier path to the semifinal round?
Notre Dame football might have been playing the long con
It seems unlikely this year, though it would have been more likely had they beaten NIU, but the No. 5 seed might have been the aim when ND helped the conferences shape the field.
Taking a look at the bracket as it currently sits certainly demonstrates why. The No. 5 seed hosts the No. 12 seed in the first round of the playoffs, meaning that a No. 5 Fighting Irish would get to have someone like Arizona State coming to South Bend in December.
The winner of that game will then take on the lowest of the top 4 seeds. It’s likely that will almost always be the Group of 5 representative. That’s certainly a program that the Blue and Gold should be able to handle.
And then, yes, in the Semifinals, the No. 5 seed has to play the No. 1 seed, but it’s of course, possible they’ll be knocked off by the No.8 or No. 9 seed in the game before hand.
Knowing all of that, getting the No. 5 seed doesn’t really seem like that bad a deal. It actually sounds like the easiest potential path to the College Football Finals.
Is it possible Notre Dame football knew this all along, and worked the other sides in a way that made them give the Irish the concession of being able to achieve the fifth seed every season?