Marcus Freeman clinched his tenth regular-season victory with Notre Dame in what was an easy win against Stanford. Now, with a 10-2 record, he spoke candidly about the Fighting Irish’s future in the College Football Playoff, sending a clear message to the committee.
Freeman was explicit in stating that Notre Dame is better than other teams currently being considered for the CFP field: “It’s hard for me to believe that there are 12 better teams than Notre Dame as we consider who should be in the playoffs,” the coach told ESPN after the Stanford win.
He didn’t stop there, sending an indirect message to the CFP committee by stating: “Won 10 straight games in a row. You want the 12 best teams,” referencing Notre Dame’s strong season, which included victories over two ranked teams: No. 20 USC and No. 22 Pittsburgh.
The final decision for Notre Dame
It must be noted that the CFP committee will ultimately decide Notre Dame’s fate. While they may have had a strong season and as Freeman said, “We’re playing as well as we’ve played all season”, a strong winning streak is not a guarantee that they will compete for the national title.
If they receive another CFP opportunity, it would be the second consecutive appearance for Freeman as head coach, and only the fourth time in program history they’ve reached the CFP. Last season, they advanced all the way to the national championship game before losing.
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The case against Notre Dame for the CFP
There is a possibility that Notre Dame could be left completely out of the CFP. This would happen if Alabama and BYU both win their conference titles, as Kyle Bonagura of ESPN explained in a recent article, also noting that the Irish would need other results to go their way.
“If No. 10 Alabama (SEC) and No. 11 BYU (Big 12) win their conference title games, they would clinch playoff spots, leaving Notre Dame as possibly the first team out. In that scenario, Notre Dame would need to leapfrog some team it is currently ranked behind — likely No. 8 Oklahoma, which beat LSU 17-13 on Saturday.”
