I know a lot of it is because we are Notre Dame Football fans, but it really feels like the majority of the college football conversation over the past week is the absolute unhinged reaction to what the college football playoff will look like next season.
If you remember, there was a chance that the playoff would expand THIS year. The SEC wanted 16 teams and the the Big 10 wanted 24. I can’t sit here and give you the exact reasons why each league wanted the format that hey proposed, and doesn’t really matter — it’s staying at 12 teams (which is fine).
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The number of teams aside, the format is changing for 2026. There is now an automatic bid for each of the Power 4 conference champions — meaning that the Duke Blue Devils would have been in the CFP this past year. The Group of 5/6 bid now goes to the highest ranked team — not the highest ranked G5/6 champion. And of course… the MOU from last spring is still in place that states the Irish will get a playoff bid as long as they’re ranked in the top 12.
Of course it’s the Notre Dame part that has fans, media members, and a ton of wannabe personalities with podcast equipment who are screaming their heads off about the situation.
They’re really mad that a team which would be one of the best 12 teams in the country would be given a bid to the CFP. Seriously — they’re mad about that?
I guess that’s the reason. Of course, they’ll all give some blatantly vague and sinfully wrong reason that will involve one of these three ideas:
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Notre Dame should join a conference.
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Notre Dame hand picks the easiest schedule in CFB every year.
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Notre Dame is always overrated.
I’m not here to beat back these obviously ridiculous assessments, because it’s already been argued about a million times. I don’t care what Cam Newton or Stephen A. Smith have to say on the subject because those two collectively know Jack and shit about the sport they are trying to pontificate about on their show. Seriously — my two sons know more about the college football landscape than those blubbering idiots, so why should we care about it?
I think the thing most people are really upset about isn’t even Notre Dame in itself. They’re mad that their school’s conference commissioner signed off on such a deal. This is America, and the last time I checked, it’s still a capitalist country. Deals are made every day. Some deals are good and some deals are bad. They think this is a bad deal for them, because it’s NOT them.
When fans ask the question, “why does Notre Dame get special treatment?” as they go off about the deal, their hatred blinds them from reason. It really does boil down the the cheesiest of answers… they hate us because they ain’t us. Personally, I always try to stay away from saying some of the cheesy stuff that flows out of the mouths of Notre Dame fans, but there’s no other real way to explain it sometimes.
Perhaps the funniest part of all of this stuff is that the entire bit about the Irish is something that has been public knowledge for a year. So you really have to wonder why so many of the haters are confused and angry now? We just witnessed the Indiana Hoosiers, the worst CFB in history, win the national championship — and yet Notre Dame being allowed to play in a 12 team playoff as the #12 team in the country took the internet over last week.
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That’s the level of hate that not even Silky Johnson could muster to win Player Hater of the Year. You’re doing too much bro. You’re doing way too much.
