Notre Dame College Football Playoff Opponent? The Alabama Issue Was Inevitable

Welcome to the new CFP era. Notre Dame's potential first round opponent is front-and-center in the the biggest CFP debate going. Should Alabama be in?

Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe (4) gets up after throwing an interception during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Alabama Crimson Tide at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. Oklahoma won 24-3. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The new expanded College Football Playoff world has been a whole lot of fun so far. More teams, more excitement, more opportunities, more ways for teams to play their way in.

And then there’s Notre Dame and its situation. It earned its way in with an 11-1 record that will most likely earn it the 6 seed, and maybe the 7. If it’s the 6, the Irish almost certainly won’t play a conference champion in the first round.

All of this depends on the ACC Championship. If SMU beats Clemson, at this point, it appears to be cut-and-dry - SMU will likely be the 3, Boise State or the Big 12 Champion will be the 4, and the 12 will either be UNLV or the Big 12 Champ. 

Without getting too deep into it, SMU probably won’t be in the CFP if it loses, meaning Alabama will likely be the 11, and that means it’ll likely travel to South Bend to face the Irish.

Alabama Appears Safe in College Football Playoff

December 3️⃣ College Football Playoff Selection Committee Rankings#CFBPlayoff🏈🏆

1️⃣1️⃣. Alabama // @AlabamaFTBL pic.twitter.com/rc0if8e8tm

— College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) December 4, 2024

Bama checked in No. 11 in the latest rankings, one spot ahead of Miami. With both the Tide and Hurricanes off this weekend, it would seem that Miami has no chance of pushing through.

The other question regarding the Tide's CFP entry is what happens if SMU loses to Clemson in the ACC championship. Will the Mustangs, who would then be 11-2 overall, make the dance?

The committee claims it doesn't want to punish teams for making their conference championship games but does anyone actually think No. 8 SMU would stay ahead of No. 11 Alabama if it lost to No. 17 Clemson?

No Great Case for Final Team in College Football Playoff

It's easy to look at the resumes and claim the committee is just picking Alabama because of the brand. I can't guarantee you're accurate in that claim as, again, every candidate is very flawed, but I can't say you're wrong either.

You can spend time and energy arguing the resumes of Alabama, Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Miami all day if you want. The fact of the matter is, whoever you want to claim is the most deserving of that bunch - you can find numbers that back up your case and simply present those.

That certainly feels like what it is doing with Alabama, but here's the catch: there isn't a single great candidate for the final CFP spot.

Alabama is just a few short weeks removed from falling at Oklahoma (6-6) 24-3 in embarrassing fashion. The Tide also had an embarrassing loss to a .500 Vanderbilt team this year, too. In previous years either loss would have almost certainly meant an end to national title hopes, let alone both.

Ole Miss has a great win over Georgia but a mind-numbing loss against Kentucky, who only won one SEC game all season. The Rebels have also lost at LSU which only looked worse as the leaves fell this fall.

South Carolina has been red-hot having won six-straight games to move to 9-3. The problem for the Gamecocks is they went 0-2 against Alabama and Ole Miss.

And Miami finished 10-2 but didn't beat a single ranked opponent all season, although it did win in the Swamp, unlike Ole Miss.

2-Loss vs. 3-Loss Resumes

Texas running back Jerrick Gibson (9) celebrates a touchdown against Michigan during the first half at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. / Junfu Han/Detroit Free Press / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

If you're of a strong belief that any team that losses three games doesn't deserve to be in the College Football Playoff then be careful what you wish for.

What you're saying is that the difficulty of schedule does not matter.

Are you a fan of Texas going to Michigan for an out-of-conference regular season game this year?

Do you like when Texas A&M schedules Notre Dame to start a season?

Is it enjoyable when Alabama goes to Camp Randall to play Wisconsin?

If you're saying that three-losses is automatically unacceptable then get ready for a dumbed down regular season where only more out of conference battles will take place against the likes of Charlotte and Florida International, since that's the behavior is what is being rewarded.

This Was Bound to Happen

When you argue resumes and get down to the 11th and 12th best ones then by default going to be dealing with less-than-ideal candidates. Take any year of college football and you'll find the teams ranked in those spots at the end of the regular season all have flaws.

Preceived playoff team Alabama certainly is, as are all of the other candidates.

In all, it's not Alabama, Ole Miss, South Carolina, or Miami that is to blame here. It's instead those crying for more playoff teams and TV executives that don't actually care about the sport but only about the bottom line, that want to print more money (of which you or I will never see) that are deciding so much of the future of the greatest sport on Earth.

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