On Tuesday, the College Football Playoff board of managers announced that it’ll adopt a “5+7 model” for its expanded format.
The five highest-ranked conference champions will earn the top seeds for the CFP. The seven remaining spots will featured the highest-ranked teams. This will be a bit of an issue for Notre Dame.
Since the Fighting Irish don’t belong to a conference, they’ll need to settle for one of the final seven spots. In theory, they can be the No. 1 ranked team in the country and fail to receive a first-round bye.
“The new College Football Playoff will put the 4 highest ranked conference champions as seeds 1 through 4. That means that even if Notre Dame is the #1 ranked team in the country, they would get the #5 seed, requiring them to win 4 straight games to win a title,” Joe Pompliano said. “That’s brutal.”
Most college football fans had the same reaction to this post from Pompliano. Either Notre Dame can join a conference or stay quiet about this format.
“Simple solution, join a conference,” one person wrote.
“Then join a conference like we’ve been trying to get them to do for decades,” a second fan replied.
Another fan sarcastically said, “Couldn’t happen to a better or more humble program and fan base.”
With the way college football is evolving, it wouldn’t surprise us if Notre Dame eventually joins a conference.
For now, Notre Dame plans on being an independent.