2025 College Football Playoffs

[IrishSteelhead]

Alabama dominated offensivery in the box score. I think they rolled up over 400 yds off offense to OU’s barely getting over 200 yds on offense. The three turnovers killed them. I don’t know if they’re still blaming Mateer’s lack of production on his injured hand but he’s horrible & if it’s due to that injury, OU should’ve been voted out ala FSU from 2023…he’s that inept.

This. Alabama is gonna dog walk them IMO.


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[InKellyWeTrust]

I read something today that made me wonder if all of this isn't a lot simpler and has nothing to do with ND. The idea was basically that the committee was never going to leave out the champion and runner up of the SEC or B1G, and ND's and Miami's resumes were close enough that it was just H2H that was the deciding factor. Nothing personal, nothing against ND. Just top 2 from the big boys and H2H with Miami.

It was collusion by the committee to get an ACC team in no matter what and to protect the archaic conference championships. Nobody said it was a conspiracy against ND. But it became personal when ESPN went on a 3 week long campaign against ND culminating in all the analysts parroting the same script on conf champ weekend. It was coordinated. It was intentional. It was political. Yeah, thats what this sport has become, thanks to the conferences. The main reason they have a committee is so the conferences and ADs can lobby, Sankey admitted it. This had nothing to do with football or resumes or metrics or eye test or even the precious H2H.

 

[IrishBryan77]

All I know is that I won't be watching ANY of the games but I hope Oklahoma beats the dog shit out of shitty ass Alabama. Ya know, one of the 3 teams that don't belong. 👍

 

[rtrn2glory]

I'd like to try to put on the tough guy move and say I won't watch any of the games, but I will. And I'll root for Oklahoma to win 12-9 and A&M to win 45-13

 

[TNUtoNotreDame]

I'd like to try to put on the tough guy move and say I won't watch any of the games, but I will. And I'll root for Oklahoma to win 12-9 and A&M to win 45-13

I Will NOT watch it!!!! My son will and if it is on in the back ground I may or may not hear stuff.

 

[drayer54]

This thread should be renamed to College Football Invitational Playoff

 

[IrishTusker]

Both Alabama and OU are middling (and worse than ND and Miami) but one of them has to win. I'd expect Bama, because OU won the first time and got lucky. OU jumping ND was as bizarre/unjustifiable as Bama doing so.

 

[IrishBryan77]

I'd like to try to put on the tough guy move and say I won't watch any of the games, but I will. And I'll root for Oklahoma to win 12-9 and A&M to win 45-13

I hope Oklahoma wins 5,000-0

 

[tko]

BOOMER!!!!!!!!!

 

[fightingirish26]

Im definitely not watching. I havent had ESPN/ESPN2/etc on my tv for one second since the selection show. Deleted my espn app, cancelled espn+. I may watch ND mbb when theyre on acc network but otherwise my pettiness knows no bounds.

 

[IrishBryan77]

Im definitely not watching. I havent had ESPN/ESPN2/etc on my tv for one second since the selection show. Deleted my espn app, cancelled espn+. I may watch ND mbb when theyre on acc network but otherwise my pettiness knows no bounds.

 

[IrishBryan77]

BOOMER!!!!!!!!!

Sooner

 

[BleedBlueGold]

I read something today that made me wonder if all of this isn't a lot simpler and has nothing to do with ND. The idea was basically that the committee was never going to leave out the champion and runner up of the SEC or B1G, and ND's and Miami's resumes were close enough that it was just H2H that was the deciding factor. Nothing personal, nothing against ND. Just top 2 from the big boys and H2H with Miami.

I'll grant you that premise of top 2 from the big boys, but can still make a case for ND:

Bama with a blowout loss in the SEC CCG should've dropped to #10. ND would've moved up to #9. Note: Bama isn't getting punished by being excluded from the playoffs. They're simply dropping one spot because that's what every single other CCG loser does in every rankings since the beginning of CCGs.

BYU with a blowout loss should've dropped (as they did) to #12. Miami moves up to #11.

This is the way it should've went down. Why didn't it? Easy. The ACC fucked themselves and rather than getting a major Power 4 conference blocked out from all that revenue, they went scorched earth on ND. Cutting off their nose, to spite their own face in the process. What unfolded was clear collusion --> Bama stays at 9, ND stays at 10, BYU drops to 12, Miami moves up to 11 --> Miami gets flip flopped with ND to keep the ACC involved. End of story. This entire thing was set up to happen like this in the penultimate rankings. No one ever imagined Duke beating UVA, but because they did, the ACC still gets their piece of the pie. At the expense of ND.

Miami H2H vs ND was already baked in to every single rankings show (and every single other poll available to the world, both human and computer.) "H2H being the deciding factor" was purely the smokescreen mechanism used to gaslight everyone.

No one will ever be able to convince me that ND doesn't have grounds for a lawsuit for the tens of millions of dollars they lost in this bullshit scenario. Bubble teams are always going to get pissed off and complain when they get left out, but in no ranking or metric was ND a bubble team. None.

 

[FWIrish4]

Regardless, either way, the actually rigged game here wasn't Miami over Notre Dame, it was Bama over both Miami and Notre Dame.

I refuse to concede to this notion. This is not to downplay your opinion, but it does irk me the entire ND beat has just accepted this because of “head to head.”

Miami was also rigged to put them in over ND to avoid shutting out the ACC.

Ignoring the “process” of having ND ranked ahead for 5 straight weeks as the better team, to flip when both were inactive, there’s plenty of reasons the committee should have stuck to their original rankings:

1) metrics, power rankings and other human polls all had ND ahead of Miami. The “subjective” CFP committee was the only one to deviate. Who’s wrong here?

Box score cavemen will argue “they had the same metrics!” Pointing to the laughable graphic ESPN flashed for 4 straight weeks showing only record, SOR, SOS and Top 25 record. They did not have the same metrics of how each team played for the whole season that the committee is supposed to use.

2) not all records are the same in CFB. ND’s 10-2 is vastly different than Miami’s 10-2 record.

- Miami didn’t play another team ranked in the final CFP Top 25 the entire year, but still somehow lost 2 games. While ND played 2 more ranked teams (should be a 3rd but they refuse to rank Navy for obvious reasons to help their corrupted screw job).
- ND’s 1 point loss to A&M in the final seconds with a botched PAT and the worst no-call of the CFB season directly leading to the game winning play for A&M is equivalent to losing to 8-4 Louisville at home?
- Miami also played an FCS school, that win counts just as much as ND’s win against MWC champ and 10-2 Navy?

3) The committee rewatched the game at the last hour. If they actually did their job, this should have solidified ND is the better team now.

The committees should have noticed the following:

- who is Karson Hobbs and why is he chasing Toney around?
- where is the freshman All-American Tae Johnson at?
- why is ND throwing sideways double digit times, even though Carr ended up leading the country in YPA?
- why did Heisman finalist Love touch the ball just 10 times?
- Yards and YPP were virtually even.
- ND -2 in turnovers.
- Miami kicking a field goal to win in the last minute.

None of that shows Miami “kicked their ass” or was “superior.” Two very good teams playing down to the wire.

4) if the committee didn’t want to deal with the BS excuse of “now ND and Miami are side to side so H2H matters,” then simply treat BYU and Alabama the exact same. Keep the buffer and neither move. Playoff field set and you didn’t even need to work on Sunday. Everyone would have accepted that because it was how it was handled for 5 straight weeks.

 

[Irish#1]

I read something today that made me wonder if all of this isn't a lot simpler and has nothing to do with ND. The idea was basically that the committee was never going to leave out the champion and runner up of the SEC or B1G, and ND's and Miami's resumes were close enough that it was just H2H that was the deciding factor. Nothing personal, nothing against ND. Just top 2 from the big boys and H2H with Miami.

Nothing personal Bishop, but Alabama is in with 3 losses, 3 losses!

I don't care if you win your CCG. If you have 3 losses, it should be an automatic disqualifier.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

I refuse to concede to this notion. This is not to downplay your opinion, but it does irk me the entire ND beat has just accepted this because of “head to head.”

Miami was also rigged to put them in over ND to avoid shutting out the ACC.

Ignoring the “process” of having ND ranked ahead for 5 straight weeks as the better team, to flip when both were inactive, there’s plenty of reasons the committee should have stuck to their original rankings:

1) metrics, power rankings and other human polls all had ND ahead of Miami. The “subjective” CFP committee was the only one to deviate. Who’s wrong here?

Box score cavemen will argue “they had the same metrics!” Pointing to the laughable graphic ESPN flashed for 4 straight weeks showing only record, SOR, SOS and Top 25 record. They did not have the same metrics of how each team played for the whole season that the committee is supposed to use.

2) not all records are the same in CFB. ND’s 10-2 is vastly different than Miami’s 10-2 record.

- Miami didn’t play another team ranked in the final CFP Top 25 the entire year, but still somehow lost 2 games. While ND played 2 more ranked teams (should be a 3rd but they refuse to rank Navy for obvious reasons to help their corrupted screw job).
- ND’s 1 point loss to A&M in the final seconds with a botched PAT and the worst no-call of the CFB season directly leading to the game winning play for A&M is equivalent to losing to 8-4 Louisville at home?
- Miami also played an FCS school, that win counts just as much as ND’s win against MWC champ and 10-2 Navy?

3) The committee rewatched the game at the last hour. If they actually did their job, this should have solidified ND is the better team now.

The committees should have noticed the following:

- who is Karson Hobbs and why is he chasing Toney around?
- where is the freshman All-American Tae Johnson at?
- why is ND throwing sideways double digit times, even though Carr ended up leading the country in YPA?
- why did Heisman finalist Love touch the ball just 10 times?
- Yards and YPP were virtually even.
- ND -2 in turnovers.
- Miami kicking a field goal to win in the last minute.

None of that shows Miami “kicked their ass” or was “superior.” Two very good teams playing down to the wire.

4) if the committee didn’t want to deal with the BS excuse of “now ND and Miami are side to side so H2H matters,” then simply treat BYU and Alabama the exact same. Keep the buffer and neither move. Playoff field set and you didn’t even need to work on Sunday. Everyone would have accepted that because it was how it was handled for 5 straight weeks.

Spot on. As far as the bolded, IMO they do that in an effort to separate themselves from the fans and keep their “journalistic integrity”. Meanwhile, you have nationally respected (in some cases) journalists who cover the entire sport out whining b/c their alma mater is ranked lower than ND in the regular season. True or not, in the minds of these idiots; they’re whining & lobbying worked b/c their alma mater got in based on H2H.

 

[IrishBryan77]

Not to mention the teams that lost in the championship games all fell.......EXCEPT Alabama. 👍

 

[MPClinton22]

I read something today that made me wonder if all of this isn't a lot simpler and has nothing to do with ND. The idea was basically that the committee was never going to leave out the champion and runner up of the SEC or B1G, and ND's and Miami's resumes were close enough that it was just H2H that was the deciding factor. Nothing personal, nothing against ND. Just top 2 from the big boys and H2H with Miami.

Then the SEC (and B1G, although the 9 conf games does help a bit) needs to go back to divisions where each team plays everyone in their division, or something where being in the top 2 actually MEANS something. When you have a 4 way tie for second place because you can only play half the teams in your conference, suddenly being "top 2" is somewhat irrelevant.

 

[IRISHDODGER]

Nothing personal Bishop, but Alabama is in with 3 losses, 3 losses!

I don't care if you win your CCG. If you have 3 losses, it should be an automatic disqualifier.

I don’t know if I agree with that but a team would have to really have a gauntlet of a regular season schedule w/ some impressive wins to offset three close losses. In other words, had Bama had 2 regular season close losses to a CFP-worthy team (like OU) and then a team like Tenn or Missouri & then lost their CFP in competitive fashion, I could live w/ the committee not leaving Bama out. But to lose handily to FSU who was proven to be a bad team & then get their doors blown off in uncompetitive fashion by a team they previously beat should at a minimum drop them one slot in the final rankings. That would’ve still ensured Bama didn’t get left out two years in a row. And let’s be clear, all the machinations late in the process were specifically to prevent that from happening. What is most frustrating is why isn’t there any constructive criticism about playing an FCS school in mid-Nov and the win being counted as a positive data point? The CFP Committee claims they don’t attach any merit to an FCS win yet they continually to trot out the talking points of teams like Bama having a 13th data point. No they don’t. The CFP was their 12th data point b/c if you’re giving an credence to a win over Eastern Illinois (sorry Jigga) then you lose all credibility. That should never be a “data point”

 

[Bishop2b5]

Nothing personal Bishop, but Alabama is in with 3 losses, 3 losses!

I don't care if you win your CCG. If you have 3 losses, it should be an automatic disqualifier.

I don't disagree. I've said more than once in the past week that I thought my guys shouldn't have gotten in. I'm just pointing out WHY the committee may have done what they did, not agreeing with it. I've ALWAYS consistently been for "best team" in the BCS CG, the 4-team playoff, or the 12-team playoff, not "4 best conference champions" or "prettiest resume" or "most deserving" or any of the rest of that stuff. Just who are the 2/4/12/16 best teams - the ones you think would beat the others, the ones you'd bet money on if you had to. I think ND is one of those 12 teams this year, but Bama isn't. I think the committee had already decided that the top two from the SEC and B1G were in no matter what. I get why, but I don't like it even though it benefited my guys.

 

[Bluto]

Saw an article today saying that the Raiders should take Mendoza at #1 in the draft because of the Geno Smith debacle.

Would be pretty on brand.

Poor kid. Lol.

 

[RDU Irish]

I refuse to concede to this notion. This is not to downplay your opinion, but it does irk me the entire ND beat has just accepted this because of “head to head.”

Miami was also rigged to put them in over ND to avoid shutting out the ACC.

Ignoring the “process” of having ND ranked ahead for 5 straight weeks as the better team, to flip when both were inactive, there’s plenty of reasons the committee should have stuck to their original rankings:

1) metrics, power rankings and other human polls all had ND ahead of Miami. The “subjective” CFP committee was the only one to deviate. Who’s wrong here?

Box score cavemen will argue “they had the same metrics!” Pointing to the laughable graphic ESPN flashed for 4 straight weeks showing only record, SOR, SOS and Top 25 record. They did not have the same metrics of how each team played for the whole season that the committee is supposed to use.

2) not all records are the same in CFB. ND’s 10-2 is vastly different than Miami’s 10-2 record.

- Miami didn’t play another team ranked in the final CFP Top 25 the entire year, but still somehow lost 2 games. While ND played 2 more ranked teams (should be a 3rd but they refuse to rank Navy for obvious reasons to help their corrupted screw job).
- ND’s 1 point loss to A&M in the final seconds with a botched PAT and the worst no-call of the CFB season directly leading to the game winning play for A&M is equivalent to losing to 8-4 Louisville at home?
- Miami also played an FCS school, that win counts just as much as ND’s win against MWC champ and 10-2 Navy?

3) The committee rewatched the game at the last hour. If they actually did their job, this should have solidified ND is the better team now.

The committees should have noticed the following:

- who is Karson Hobbs and why is he chasing Toney around?
- where is the freshman All-American Tae Johnson at?
- why is ND throwing sideways double digit times, even though Carr ended up leading the country in YPA?
- why did Heisman finalist Love touch the ball just 10 times?
- Yards and YPP were virtually even.
- ND -2 in turnovers.
- Miami kicking a field goal to win in the last minute.

None of that shows Miami “kicked their ass” or was “superior.” Two very good teams playing down to the wire.

4) if the committee didn’t want to deal with the BS excuse of “now ND and Miami are side to side so H2H matters,” then simply treat BYU and Alabama the exact same. Keep the buffer and neither move. Playoff field set and you didn’t even need to work on Sunday. Everyone would have accepted that because it was how it was handled for 5 straight weeks.

If they were two SEC teams instead of Miami/ND it would be all about "two great teams down to the wire" to push hard for both to be included for the sake of "best" teams in. Eye test and best team are bullshit subjective analysis only used to promote SEC.

 

[IrishBryan77]

I don't disagree. I've said more than once in the past week that I thought my guys shouldn't have gotten in. I'm just pointing out WHY the committee may have done what they did, not agreeing with it. I've ALWAYS consistently been for "best team" in the BCS CG, the 4-team playoff, or the 12-team playoff, not "4 best conference champions" or "prettiest resume" or "most deserving" or any of the rest of that stuff. Just who are the 2/4/12/16 best teams - the ones you think would beat the others, the ones you'd bet money on if you had to. I think ND is one of those 12 teams this year, but Bama isn't. I think the committee had already decided that the top two from the SEC and B1G were in no matter what. I get why, but I don't like it even though it benefited my guys.

Watch these bitches win the whole thing now. 🤮🤣

 

[T-Boone]

The play offs should avoid as much as possible having games like Bama v Oklahoma which are rematches - especially if both teams are sliding (again like Bama and Oklahoma are rather than ascending - like ND was).
The way things are heading with two conferences is we could get situations where the same two teams play 3 times (they can't let the final be between teams playing for a 3rd time I am sure that happened with Georgia and Bama a few years ago).

Also, just generally entering into the playoffs in good form should be the priority above most other things. It actually degrades the playoffs to have a team like Bama in it with its form of the last month. Bama fans are coming off a month of knowing they are getting worse and are below standard at the business end of the season. H2H should be viewed about the same as winning streak and arguably above winning streak if like Miami they have at least turned their bad form around which Miami did. In no circumstances should a team have 3 horrific performances in a row and get into the play offs.

 

[IrishinSyria]

Nothing personal Bishop, but Alabama is in with 3 losses, 3 losses!

I don't care if you win your CCG. If you have 3 losses, it should be an automatic disqualifier.

Even worse, one of those losses was an ass beating by Florida State, a garbage garbage team with a fan base that is -somehow -even more inbred than Alabama’s (I did not say nothing personal).

top 2 in the sec shouldn’t mean a damn thing if you got spanked out of conference (and by big Brother in conference).

 

[Hautian Domer]

Why should BYU be punished for being a top 2 team in the Big 12 and losing its championship game, but Alabama wasn't?

I for one will not be watching Friday's game. I may tune in a little for A&M-Miami and perhaps some of Tulane-Ole Miss, but that's about it. I certainly won't be watching 25-point underdog James Madison vs. Oregon.

Nothing is guaranteed though. I may tune it out all together.

 

[IrishBryan77]

Why should BYU be punished for being a top 2 team in the Big 12 and losing its championship game, but Alabama wasn't?

I for one will not be watching Friday's game. I may tune in a little for A&M-Miami and perhaps some of Tulane-Ole Miss, but that's about it. I certainly won't be watching 25-point underdog James Madison vs. Oregon.

Nothing is guaranteed though. I may tune it out all together.

Because BYU isn't in the SEC

 

[InKellyWeTrust]

Its been almost 2 weeks, we are on the eve of the playoffs starting, and I still want to break things.

 

[IrishinSyria]

Its been almost 2 weeks, we are on the eve of the playoffs starting, and I still want to break things.

The B1G championship game convinced me there’s not a damn team out there we couldn’t beat. Indiana is one of the weaker one seeds in recent memory and there’s no juggernaut with fluky losses equivalent to last year’s Ohio State team (if anything, that team this year was us).

 

[InKellyWeTrust]

The B1G championship game convinced me there’s not a damn team out there we couldn’t beat. Indiana is one of the weaker one seeds in recent memory and there’s no juggernaut with fluky losses equivalent to last year’s Ohio State team (if anything, that team this year was us).

Exactly