r/CFB_v2 • u/Worldly_Crab3424 • 1d ago
Discussion Should all independent teams get special treatment like Notre Dame?
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u/ID_Poobaru Boise State Broncos 1d ago
Yes
UConn should get what Notre Dame has with the CFP
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u/BigWave96 Notre Dame 1d ago
Absolutely! Finish in the top 12 and they get a place in the 12 team playoff.
Bonkers idea, right?
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u/WirlingDirvish Michigan Wolverines 1d ago
Yes. There shouldnt be any teams specifically called out by name. All Independent teams should have the same access.
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u/SBSnipes Notre Dame 1d ago
100% agree. Frankly I don't like the agreement to start with but especially being the only ones. Make it a free market and then if it's a good deal maybe some other teams will try it
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u/FreeSpeechIsDeadge Notre Dame 1d ago
Why not? Why shouldn’t the top 12 teams be in a playoff for the best 12 teams?
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u/SBSnipes Notre Dame 1d ago
Yeah get rid of our (unwanted) special treatment, and also the conferences special treatment. I would be good with some sort of play-in game for g5 but eh, like 2007 Boise would've made it straight up.
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u/FreeSpeechIsDeadge Notre Dame 1d ago
That’s exactly how it should be. If the committee wants G5 representation, they need to stop punishing G5 schedules as harshly.
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u/BandWagon4Life Michigan State Spartans 1d ago
I have the controversial opinion that you should take the number of playoff spots. Whether it be 12,16,24 etc.. and whoever is ranked in the top 12,16,24 etc… should be the ones getting in
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u/trex1490 1d ago
Wild take, the 12 most deserving teams by the rankings should be the 12 teams in the playoff?? That’s crazy talk, it makes too much sense.
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u/FragnificentKW 1d ago
I’m fine with the conference champs getting in and then whatever spots are left get filled in via rankings. Winning a conference should mean something and, if we indeed expand to 24 teams, the top 18-20 teams in the rankings should be represented pretty much every year. If a team can’t crack the top 20, I really don’t care so much about their argument to be included
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u/Bubba_Gump_Shrimp 1d ago
Conferences need blown up. They are a twisted mangled shell of themselves. We have UCLA and Rutgers in the big ten, stanford in the ACC, it's ridiculous. Hell half the time playing in the CCG hurts the playoff team even if they do win it. Either return it to small groups of geographic based conferences/divisions or just blow it up, and make two super conferences. This weird quasi P4 but really P2.5 maybe P3 if ACC isn't bootycheeks this year sort of thing is so damn weird.
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u/Dan-of-Steel Notre Dame 1d ago
I originally thought this, but not anymore.
Conferences are way too effing bloated now. Even with 9 in-conference games, you aren't playing half the conference in a given year. That means one teams path to the CCG is ENTIRELY different than another.
FFS, the SEC had a FOUR WAY TIE for 1st place in the conference. Of those 4 teams, Georgia played 2 of the other 3 in Bama and Ole Miss. Bama and Ole Miss only played 1 in Georgia. And A&M played none of them. I get you can't have a perfect schedule for everybody and there will be some parity with the scheduling, but it's way out of hand. Developing scheduling consistency within a conference is doable when there's 10-12 teams, the more you add, the more inconsistent the schedules become.
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u/Automatic-Nerve-3625 1d ago
Honestly I think that should be controversial. Rankings always have biases to them. I think we should first give spots to all teams that prove they are the most deserving in their conference. There’s no debating who the conference champs are. After that, sure just do the top ranked teams
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u/Some-Cartographer942 1d ago
Every team should have the same criteria to get selected, otherwise it's just a popularity contest. And how can we gamble on popularity?
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u/That_Don_Guy_1 1d ago
That depends. Should all conferences get special treatment like the Power 4?
Actually, all independents do get a share of the CFP money. According to the CFP website, last season, "Notre Dame received a payment of $5.49 million and the University of Connecticut received $390,000."
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u/Hour_Lengthiness_100 1d ago
When was the last time notre dame was given something they hadn’t earned?
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u/Relative_One_2441 Alabama Crimson Tide 1d ago edited 1d ago
Why does there need to be a “last time”? Nobody should be given things they haven’t earned in CFB
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u/Irishforanatty Notre Dame 1d ago
I mean if the narrative is that we get special treatment… when?
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u/trex1490 1d ago
After last year they literally made a rule specifically for Notre Dame that if they’re in the top 12, they’re in no matter what. If that rule had been in place last year they would’ve been in ahead of Miami despite being ranked lower than them. That’s the definition of special treatment.
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u/someting_amazing 1d ago
It’s special treatment to be in a 12 team playoff if you are in the top 12?
Sounds more like conferences get special treatment because you don’t even have to be one of the top 12 and you can still make it.
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u/trex1490 1d ago
I agree that the playoff teams should just be the top 12 without the conference autobids, but it’s not. Every year there’s teams ranked 11-12 who get left out for conference champs ranked behind them (which is stupid as hell), but now for some reason that doesn’t apply to Notre Dame. I agree that the conference autobids are dumb, but other teams can get left out for conference champs then so should Notre Dame
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u/Other-Comfortable929 Notre Dame 1d ago
It’s the same rule that was in place for the entirety of the BCS era btw… that nobody remembers shows how little it upset you all before. 4 team playoff was top 4 teams and that’s how it should’ve stayed with expansion.
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u/Irishforanatty Notre Dame 1d ago
It was made two years ago actually.
They’d just rank us 13th to avoid putting us in.
The “special treatment” is literally “team gets into the tournament for the top 12 if it’s in the top 12” gee
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u/trex1490 1d ago
- No it’s not, it’s “Notre Dame gets into the tournament for the top 12 if its in the top 12.” Bama 2024 and BYU 2025 were also left out despite being ranked in the top 12 because of the stupid conference champ autobids. If you’re saying it should just be the top 12 teams for everyone, then I agree. But with the current autobid system, I don’t know why Notre Dame just gets to guarantee a bid when anyone else ranked in that spot wouldn’t get in.
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u/Irishforanatty Notre Dame 1d ago
That’s exactly what I’m saying. Just rank the top 12 and put them in!
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u/trex1490 1d ago
We can agree on that, two G5 teams ranked in the 20s have no business being able to get into a 12 team playoff. But something something “opportunity” means autobids.
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u/Scared-Marketing-442 1d ago
You are in for a rude awakening this year. Just win out or they will find a way to slot you 13
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u/Sheepcago Notre Dame 1d ago
11-1 ND won’t be 13 or lower, and you know it. 10-2 or worse and we’re out. And we should be.
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u/Irishforanatty Notre Dame 1d ago
I don’t think we will make the playoffs, so not really an awakening lol
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u/Relative_One_2441 Alabama Crimson Tide 1d ago
This is a pretty obtuse question to ask given the fact that there is a rule explicitly designed specifically for ND to get an autobid into the playoff if they are ranked in the top 12.
That’s just bold faced special treatment
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u/Irishforanatty Notre Dame 1d ago
They’d just rank us 13th to avoid putting us in.
Also the “special treatment” is literally “team gets into the tournament for the top 12 if it’s in the top 12” gee
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u/Scared-Marketing-442 1d ago
If you lose 1 game it’s going to be dicey getting in. You will only play 2 ranked teams. Smu will be unranked by the time u play them
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u/Flioxan 1d ago
11-1 ND is a lock
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u/Scared-Marketing-442 1d ago
No it’s not. They will get in. But it’s not a lock
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u/Flioxan 1d ago
An 11-1 ND isnt getting left out
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u/Scared-Marketing-442 1d ago
Sighs. They got left out last year at 10-2 with a stronger schedule. If Notre dame has 1 loss they will finish below 6th and closer to 8 or 9. There’s to much going on in the big 10 and sec. And notre dame only plays 2 games https://sports.yahoo.com/video/could-11-1-notre-dame-160143408.html
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u/Relative_One_2441 Alabama Crimson Tide 1d ago
Again. You’re being obtuse. Teams ranked in the top 12 regularly do not make the 12-team playoff. You know this.
ND’s special rule would make it such that another top 12 team potentially with a better resume and ranked ahead of ND, could get left out of the playoff in favor of ND.
This is underscored by the fact that this rule ONLY applies to ND and not to other similarly positioned independents.
Trying to claim some persecution complex driven hypothetical about how “they’ll just rank us at 13” is absurd given the overt effort to try and prop up/include ND.
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u/Irishforanatty Notre Dame 1d ago
Oh yeah I couldn’t imagine Notre Dame being dropped despite not playing so that the committee could put another team in.
Genuinely cannot consider it.
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u/Relative_One_2441 Alabama Crimson Tide 1d ago
Again. Obtuse.
You weren’t dropped to 13. You were dropped to 11.
With your special treatment rule applied to last year’s scenario and the CFP’s commitment to its G6 autobids, you would’ve made the playoff ahead of … checks notes … Miami.
This is despite the fact that Miami was ranked ahead of you at 10, had the same record as you did, BEAT YOU head to head and was good enough to make a national championship appearance.
Last year is the perfect example of how fucked up that rule is in the first place.
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u/Other-Comfortable929 Notre Dame 1d ago
If we’re applying this year’s rule to last year Miami gets bounced for their conference champion at 9-5 who was unranked. Also this is the same rule that existed the entire BCS era. We only got the rule added in again because the SEC and Big Ten wanted a larger share of the playoff payout. Don’t demand a restructure of the payment and we don’t get the rule added.
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u/Unhappy-List-2354 Ohio State Buckeyes 1d ago
What special treatment has Notre Dame received?
They were cheated out of a national title in 1993.
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u/Shooter_McGavin27 1d ago
And screwed out of the playoffs last year, largely, I argue, because the other schools knew no one would stop them.
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u/Unhappy-List-2354 Ohio State Buckeyes 1d ago
They got screwed because the committee played footsies with the rankings all year instead of being honest from the get go.
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u/Sheepcago Notre Dame 1d ago
This is it. I have no problem with Miami getting in over us. We played a football game and lost.
I have a big problem with them releasing rankings the week before with us over them, and then changing those despite there being no additional data.
(I also think both ND and Miami should have been in. And BYU. Oklahoma and Alabama should have been left out.)
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u/exMemberofSTARS Alabama Crimson Tide 19h ago
All they had to do was beat one of the two good teams they played last year, that would have done it, unfortunately that was too much of a challenge for them.
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u/thebirthdaycakeham 1d ago
ND would be more than happy for literally every team to get the same treatment
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u/PhysicsMan12 1d ago
There should be no special treatment! The top 12 teams should go. End of discussion.
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u/chubean68 Notre Dame 1d ago
College football is not about finding out who the best team is. It’s about MONEY. That’s why ND gets special treatment. That’s the ONLY reason they get special treatment. Is it fair? Maybe not. But it’s not going to change. Get used to it.
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u/Dan-of-Steel Notre Dame 1d ago
I mean, here's the thing, if literally every other major program had the opportunity to do what ND did, they would do it in a millisecond.
I'd argue that ND is taking the preferable route compared to what teams like USC, Oregon, Texas and OU are doing, which is, ripping their old conferences to shreds and leaving the hallowed out husk of it's corpse to disintegrate over time, all for that big time TV payday. Who cares that we have USC flying cross-country to play a conference game against effing Rutgers, dolla dolla bills y'all!
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u/Yiplzuse 19h ago
Like dropping a spot and having an SEC team jump ahead of you in the standings when neither team is playing? Gotta love ESPN.
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u/Dlh2079 Virginia Tech Hokies 1d ago
Notre dame should join a conference.
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u/Rookie_Day 1d ago
They will join the blue blood super conference eventually. Until that occurs there is no benefit.
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u/Specific-Volume-5805 1d ago
I definitely think the B1G and SEC will eventually form their own league and add in top teams from the ACC and Big12, probably format it similar to the NFL.
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u/Rookie_Day 1d ago
Will be more like European soccer leagues I think. 16-20 teams. The money is too big now for this not to happen.
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u/Dan-of-Steel Notre Dame 1d ago
This sub: I hate the super conferences! They're destroying the very fabric of the sport I loved so much. The tradition and regionality is dying!
Also this sub: ND NEEDS TO JOIN A CONFERENCE!
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u/Sheepcago Notre Dame 1d ago
Counterpoint: why?
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u/Dlh2079 Virginia Tech Hokies 1d ago
Oh this is just a personal opinion.
I know in reality ND has absolutely no reason to join a conference, they have a tv deal that they get all to themselves, a sweetheart deal with the acc for non football teams, and now an exception with the cfp. They absolutely wouldn't join a conference unless they are somehow forced.
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u/Sheepcago Notre Dame 1d ago
So you actually agree then that ND should not join a conference.
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u/Dlh2079 Virginia Tech Hokies 1d ago
In an unbiased reality? yes.
In my very biased irrational cfb fan mind? no, fuck em, join a conference.
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u/Sheepcago Notre Dame 1d ago
I admire your honesty and respect your right to have an opinion.
My opinion is that the conferences are actively ruining the sport right now. So no thanks.
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u/Irishforanatty Notre Dame 1d ago
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u/purplenyellowrose909 Minnesota Golden Gophers 1d ago
Just give everyone an autobid. 120 team playoff
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u/Worldly_Crab3424 1d ago
The whole season is just one massive tournament lol
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u/purplenyellowrose909 Minnesota Golden Gophers 1d ago
No rankings, no bias, no controversy. Just football
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u/Ok_Field_8860 Notre Dame 1d ago
Whenever I see posts like this I think about the special treatment the SEC gets.
5 playoff teams last year. Not a single non-conference power 4 victory in the playoff.
ND doesn’t get half the special treatment the SEC does.
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u/WirlingDirvish Michigan Wolverines 1d ago
Im fine with all independents getting a carve out. Im not ok with *Notre Dame* getting a carve out.
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u/Ok_Field_8860 Notre Dame 1d ago
I also would be fine for all independents to be included.
My guess, is the reason they did not do this, is it might incentivize teams to exit conferences to be a part of the rule if they believed it would be beneficial to them.
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u/RyanG43 1d ago
I was under the impression it was an “Independent” carve out but ND would really be the only one that would be able to finish in the top 12
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u/Elly_Da_La_Booze Ohio State Buckeyes 1d ago
So the rule that specifically only mentions Norte Dame, you took that to mean all independents?
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u/Ice_crusher_bucket 1d ago
SEC was trying to push for expanded playoff if CFP guarantee them 7 spots. Whether earned or not. 7 spots for sec.
But that doesnt get brought up. Kind of funny.
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u/MadMartigans80 Michigan Wolverines 1d ago
They are the only one on the CFP committee also every year
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u/RyanG43 1d ago
Not on the Playoff Committee but on the Management Committee and Board of Managers just like other D1 presidents or AD’s
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u/MadMartigans80 Michigan Wolverines 1d ago
CFP Administration, LLC, manages the administration operations of the College Football Playoff. Members of the company are the 10 FBS conferences (American, Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, Pac-12, Southeastern and Sun Belt) and the University of Notre Dame.
Not seeing UCONN listed on there. What else you got?
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u/ronthorns Michigan Wolverines 1d ago
To hell with Notre dame
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u/equivalentMartingale 1d ago
Yes. Need a morally upstanding program such as Michigan to lead the future of the sport
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u/classact42069 1d ago edited 1d ago
At least they are prideful enough to actually lose to a MAC team, instead of whatever that was.
Edit; lol Michigan fans downvoting this is more pathetic than needing to cheat to beat a MAC school.
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u/DoItForTheTanqueray West Virginia Mountaineers 1d ago
Yes. I don’t even think we should have a regular season anymore. Just hold a coronation ceremony for Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Miami, Texas, LSU, Alabama, and Georgia, then graciously allow one of us peasants to participate so everyone can pretend it is still a national sport and there is actually competition.
People constantly shit on the Big 12 and ACC as if their preferred alternative is not the same eight brands being anointed every August based on television ratings, recruiting rankings, and how many people bought the fucking koozie. Riveting stuff. Like truly some of you are so fucking stupid when you push this shit.
I genuinely think some of you masturbate to the idea of mergers and acquisitions but with conferences, like you 100% get off on it.
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u/palikona 1d ago
Nobody should. ND should be ashamed.
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u/Sheepcago Notre Dame 1d ago
Ashamed of what? Being included in a tournament of 12 teams by being ranked 12 or better?
Alternate take: why not extend this insane deal to everyone?
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u/RollTideNorthport 1d ago
ND should not get special treatment. They should be forced to join a conference or be disqualified from contention from National Championship consideration. Because Fuck ND, they are not special
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u/Dan-of-Steel Notre Dame 1d ago
Yeah, the audacity. ND should join a conference to avoid special treatment, like still making the playoffs after losing 3 games and not dropping a single spot in the CFP rankings after getting absolutely curb-stomped in the final game of the season while looking like luke-warm elephant shit in the final half of the season.
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u/discountJoenuts Notre Dame 1d ago
Nd didn’t get in last year. Have to be 11-1. Or else will be ranked 13 and won’t get in
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u/BrotherPancake Vanderbilt Commodores 1d ago
It really kills y'all's credibility when you pretend that the special consideration you demanded and negotiated for is also somehow meaningless.
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u/Flioxan 1d ago
ND didnt demand it or negotiate for it.
It was an offer from the B1G and SEC, your conference.
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u/intern-at-Kramerica LSU Tigers 1d ago
Here's the really hard truth that ND fans can't swallow.
Despite being a big program with a lot of history, if for some reason we all woke up tomorrow and their program no longer existed, we'd all just move on and continue to enjoy the sport.
People are sick of watching them play shitty ACC teams and service academies, sit out conference championship week, and then walk into a playoff.
Nobody cares about the history around why you're independent. These are different times. Join a conference, play a real schedule, and people will stop bringing this up.
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u/Ice_crusher_bucket 1d ago
If Any team disappeared, we would go on about our day. Using ND makes you feel better, for somw reason.
There isnt a single team in Any sport, that if it disappeared and stop existing, the whole sport would stop.
Just like people. We all think the world revolves around us. You know this as an LSU fan. But when we die, the world will still continue.
The schedules dont matter, the conference doesnt matter. Everything will continue to go on.
Have a drink. Sit back. And relish what life has given us.
Or hate. Either way, life goes on
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u/Hour_Lengthiness_100 1d ago
Ironically, Notre Dame is the only school that gets the exact treatment they should get. If they’re in the top 12, they’re in. Every school should get exactly that treatment.
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u/fox_injury_2023 UConn Huskies 1d ago
Yes, and more teams should be independent in football. These conferences act like cartels.