Ever since Notre Dame's football team was cheated (yes, cheated) out of playing in the college football championship playoffs, the news has been filled with articles by sportswriters who are incensed that the team decided not to participate in one of the remaining bowl games that are not part of the playoffs.
For example, Chris Vannini wrote an op-ed for The Athletic titled, "Notre Dame's opt-out crosses a new line -- and college football is worse off for it." Like plenty of others, Vannini characterizes this as the team just "taking its ball and going home." He calls it "short-sighted and embarrassing" and warns that the team will dilute whatever sympathy they would otherwise have engendered from being excluded from the playoffs. (As if ...) He is flabbergasted that the team would give up several more weeks of practice just to "wallow" in their "hurt feelings." "The point of football is to play football," he announces, apparently seriously. And tucked into his piece is another reason why he thinks Notre Dame's decision is detrimental: that their opt-out weakens support for the already crumbling postseason, non-championship bowl games.
Permit me to point out just a few of the reasons Mr. Vannini's analysis is way off.
First, he compares Notre Dame's participation in the Pop-Tarts Bowl to Indiana playing in the Big Ten Championship game against Ohio State. That is so evidently absurd that it doesn't warrant further response.
Second, while it might make sense for Notre Dame to risk injury to their draft-eligible and other players in pursuit of the National Championship, it does not make sense for them to do so just to grab the storied title of the Pop-Tarts Bowl, the Ty-D-Bowl or the Come Smoke a Bowl.
Third, while members of the CFP Committee and some writers want to pretend that the end of this football season was "business as usual," it wasn't and isn't, and much of the rest of world sees that quite clearly. The last-minute machinations that resulted in the exclusion of Notre Dame as contenders for the National Championship have blown a C4-sized hole in the credibility of the committee, the rankings and the selection process. No amount of feigned outrage changes that.
Notre Dame is certainly one of the 10 best (and arguably among the five best) teams in the country. Even the bettors recognized that fact. The playoffs are supposed to be an elimination process whereby the best teams compete to reach the championship. That's what the players work an entire season for, that's what the coaches train them for, that's what the fans expect. If the best teams aren't even in the playoffs (and they're not), that's not what it is.
Fourth, Notre Dame Athletic Director Pete Bevacqua is right. Either the weekly rankings mean something, or they don't. Notre Dame was ranked ninth or 10th -- and ahead of Miami -- for weeks leading up to Selection Sunday. If -- as the committee says now -- Miami is in the playoffs and Notre Dame isn't because Miami beat Notre Dame on Aug. 31, then Miami should have been ranked ahead of Notre Dame from Sept. 1 on. But, of course, they weren't. Which makes the committee's decisions last Sunday look less like a matter of principle or policy or fair play and more like an exercise of raw power, bias and self-interest.
The message here is, "Bend the knee to the Politburo that makes the decisions, and maybe -- maybe -- we'll let you compete. Unless, of course, there's more money in it if another team gets in. Or if we want to give a particular conference more representation. Or if we want to punish you for not being in a conference. The reasons don't really matter; the takeaway is the same: we, not you, control your destiny."
This system is broken, corrupted and unfair. To claim that Notre Dame has a moral obligation to behave as if it isn't by cheerfully playing in a non-playoff bowl game is inexcusably blinkered and naive. (And as a Notre Dame alumna who has heard "I hate Notre Dame" for 40 years, it feels like there was a splinter of malice in the decision to leak the news about Notre Dame's postseason bowl prospects the same day they were shut out of the playoffs. Instead of playing for the National Championship, coach Marcus Freeman and his team would conclude one of the best seasons in recent memory by saying they were "Winners of the 2026 Pop-Tarts Bowl." *snicker snicker* Yeah, hard pass.)
If the "postseason bowl game system" has taken a blow to the head because of the new structure of the playoffs, that isn't Notre Dame's fault. Nor is it their obligation to prop it up for the benefit of those who will profit from the broadcast.
The playoff system needs to change, and fast. Rankings assigned by grand poohbahs who can switch anything they want at the last minute on a whim is a terrible system. At the very least, college football should have as many slots as college basketball: Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, Final Four and a National Championship.
I'll close with a personal reflection. I have taught student athletes (along with countless other wonderful students) at Notre Dame for 15 years, and at the University of Illinois for 10 years prior to that. As a professor and as the mother of a college athlete (although not at Notre Dame), I know how hard they all work. Whether they are Division I, Division II or Division III, and whether they play football, soccer, lacrosse, golf, basketball, hockey, or volleyball, swim, or dive, these athletes have two full-time jobs. They have worked for most of their lives to get where they are. At high-visibility schools, they are in the national spotlight and face enormous pressures. At the very least, they deserve a fair shake and the chance to go as far as their talent and hard work will take them.
This is true for all the college football players (and, indeed, all college athletes), and I'm happy for all the young men who will be able to compete in the playoffs. But cheating Notre Dame out of that opportunity by manipulating the rankings is shameful. Covering it up with transparently specious justifications just makes it worse. All of it sends a terrible message to college athletes. My hope is that those who are in a position to clean up this mess next year will do so.
All our athletes deserve better.
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