SeattleSilver wrote:
The playoffs are a made up competition between several large conferences and ESPN. It doesn't exist to find the best team of the season - although it might do so in most years- but to make money for the conferences and ESPN. Because of their historic status in college football and, more importantly, their huge national fan base, ND is allowed to be considered despite not being a member of the cartel. So when the Committee manipulates the ranking for five weeks to energize fan bases and create interest in the decisions, only to default in protecting cartel members at the end, ND is correct in pointing out the dishonesty, but needs to remember that they aren't a member of the cartel and don't get to make the rules.
In evaluating the faux outrage by the talking heads at ESPN, consider that the only reason they give a damn is that whatever matchup they have for the bowl ND declined with garner nowhere near the advertising dollars that they would have been able to command with ND in the game. It isn't about purity of sport, the sanctity of competition, but rather dollars for ESPN.
And by the way, the decision to not play wasn't prompted by the ND administration, AD or coach. The senior players advised the coach and AD that enough key players wouldn't play a meaningless bowl instead of preparing for the draft, that the resulting team would not have been representative.
ND helped the ACC stay relevant when they were about to be cut out of the cartel (because FSU and Clemson wanted to walk). The ACC stabbed them, and ND won't forget it.
You make a lot of good points. The Ringer has a good article today on this topic. It outlined multiple controversial decisions regarding playoff team selections in recent years, and it noted the inconsistencies with how those decisions have been made. It also explained that the controversies are a feature of the ranking system, not a bug.
I understand why the ACC lobbied for Miami over Notre Dame. If Miami wasn't selected, they wouldn't have had an ACC team in the playoff. I've seen people say that both Miami and Notre Dame should have been in, with Alabama being the team that should have been left out. The argument against Notre Dame was easier to make, given that Miami beat them.
