It's now very simple.

[bostonirish84]

Notre Dame needs to win and Oklahoma lose tonight.

After yesterday's games and knowing the schedule going forward it will come down to ND and Oklahoma for that final spot. Michigan St will beat Penn State today so the winner of the Michigan State/Iowa game is in and I think that will be deserved. I know Iowa has had a weak schedule but they are unbeaten and if ND was in the same shoes we would all be saying they deserve to be in.

Clemson and Alabama will both win out and also be in the final four also deserved in my opinion. Alabama's resume may not be the most impressive at the end of the year as I wrote about in a previous post but they simply look like the best team in the country right now although I would love to see Clemson get a crack at them if ND doesn't get in.

So my fellow ND fans it's either ND or Oklahoma. ND has good wins vs Temple, Navy, Pitt, USC, and hopefully Stanford. And we all know their one loss is to the #1 team in Clemson. Oklahoma has good wins vs TCU, Baylor, Tenn, West Virginia(I guess??), and what would be OK ST. Their loss of course to Texas who ND throttled. To me it appears that Oklahoma has the better wins, a would be conference championship, and is the HOT team in the committee's eyes which will all be hard to overcome. How much would the Texas factor come in to play? They are ranked 3 spots ahead of ND right now. Do we really think they are going to jump another Big 12 team for the second year in a row and bump Oklahoma out? I don't.

So after all of that I think it simply comes down to ND winning and Oklahoma losing today.

Guess it's split screen tonight with the sound on the ND game!!!

Go Irish!!! And Cowboys!!!

 

[theskibro]

Not that simple. Oklahoma can win close. Me can win easy. It then could be ND. A lot of analysts say the same.

The BC game hurt us more than the committee admits. They said OU beat good teams but our tight score was the real reason.

And that is why if we look like a playoff team we get in

I am at peace with it. Right now we don't deserve to be in. Even tho I feel we are a top 4 team, we have not played like one in 3 weeks

We shall see tonight. Close win and we stay at maybe 5.

 

[Irish Grandeur]

Agree...OU has to lose for ND to get in. I do not see ND jumping them if OU wins. It's still hard for me to understand how ND went from "solid #4" to getting jumped by three teams after a win. Guess those last two BC drives hurt ND in the CFP committee's eyes.

 

[bostonirish84]

It did not make any sense to me either. The last two weeks I sat there and listened to the committee chair say that the top four were solid and the discussions were between the #5-7 spots. So funny how it all changed after a close win that was never ever in doubt no matter how poorly they played. I equate the BC game to the Texas game for OU. A rivalry game in which the opposition always plays tough and is usually a tough hard fought game. The only difference is ND is getting punished for it even though they WON and OU is not even though they LOST!!! That loss to a 4-8 Texas team simply should not be overlooked.

I think the conversation as far as the difference maker between the two will be a conference champ vs the Texas factor and I think the conference champ factor wins out,

 

[Irish Grandeur]

Yeah, they sent a pretty clear signal that playing in a conference - even though the SoS is weaker than ND's SoS - is important in their eyes. The one thing I hope BK and ND take away from all of this is to continue to pound teams without letting up - style points obviously matter as well.

 

[kellys heroes 35]

It did not make any sense to me either. The last two weeks I sat there and listened to the committee chair say that the top four were solid and the discussions were between the #5-7 spots. So funny how it all changed after a close win that was never ever in doubt no matter how poorly they played. I equate the BC game to the Texas game for OU. A rivalry game in which the opposition always plays tough and is usually a tough hard fought game. The only difference is ND is getting punished for it even though they WON and OU is not even though they LOST!!! That loss to a 4-8 Texas team simply should not be overlooked.

I think the conversation as far as the difference maker between the two will be a conference champ vs the Texas factor and I think the conference champ factor wins out,

Any team that loses to a team with a losing record should not get a chance to play for a national championship PERIOD !!!!


OKLA loss to Texas should eliminate them from consideration by the committee also ND was one play away from beating the #1 team in the country and OKLA was one play away from a disaster last week

 

[hoopsstar12]

Any of the top 5 teams could lose before the end of the season. Don't rule out upsets. ND must beat Stanford even If It Is by 1 point. Look at what the rain did to the TCU v Baylor game. Turnovers and lack of offense. What the committee really needs to look at is the playing conditions of our only loss and how it affected our offense against current #1.

 

[FLballcoach1]

The one thing we've learned about the College Football Playoff is nothing is simple.

 

[Irish Grandeur]

Any team that loses to a team with a losing record should not get a chance to play for a national championship PERIOD !!!!

Not only that, I watched that game and UT controlled the game from start to finish. They didn't need fluky plays to win.

 

[onlyonenow]

great article in Yahoo that pretty much destroys most of the arguments morons make about ND having to join a conference

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/if-not...t-blame-its-independent-status-002901114.html

 

[mokpra37]

THink aout this. ND wins and the Cowboys beat Oklahoma. Because the committee dropped one-loss Oklahoma State to 11th, they aren't going to jump ND. That means, unless Clemson or Bama are upset, Clemson, Bama, ND and the Iowa/MichiganSt. winner would be the four. The BIG 12 would be left out again.
Why? I say because the BIG has way to much power on the committee. My reasoning looks at the rankings of Ohio St and michigan. There is no way Ohio St should be 8th with the absolutely terrible schedule they have. Why isn't Oklahoma St. ahead of them? And worse, why is a two-loss Michigan who barely beat Indiana and Minny ranked ahead of one-loss OSU?

I am not complaining mind you. THey have set it up so that Ohio St. has to have a lot happen to get back into the playoff, but they shouldn't have ranked Oklahoma St. behind those teams.

 

[mokpra37]

Another note: There are other possibilities and all assume an ND win.
1. FSU beats Florida and then Florida beats bama - No SEC team in 4. (CLemson, OU, MSU/Iowa winner, ND)
2. Clemson finds a way to lose to South Carolina (ya, I know) or lose big to UNC. ND could very well take their spot. (bama, OU, MSU/Iowa winner, ND)
3. Oklahoma gets beat by OSU. OSU is 11th. Hard to see a team going from 11th to 4th in one week. (Clemson, bama, Iowa/MSU winner, ND).

In order of most likely: 3, 1, 2.

 

[DieHard_Irish]

I'm done speculating on any of this crap. ND NEEDS to play well and win. Then we can resume speculation