How long do you think the fix was in for Notre Dame with the playoff committee?

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably still not over the screwjob that the college football playoff committee gave Notre Dame just a few weeks ago. The fact that the first round of playoff games start tomorrow, really only invigorates our disdain and disgust.

I plan on watching every playoff game, and I really don’t understand why there are some Notre Dame fans that won’t, but I am already preparing myself for the company line by ESPN that the committee “got it right” as they then show a couple of abominations.

Whatever is said, they simply can’t say the 12 best teams in college football are in this tournament when Notre Dame is one of maybe five teams in the country that was capable of winning such a playoff.

There is, however, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that was signed in 2024 that takes effect in 2026. This MOU essentially makes sure the Irish don’t get screwed like this again. It states that the Irish are guaranteed a playoff berth in a 12 and 14 team format as long as they are ranked inside the top 12. This agreement also has a stipulation that the Power 4 conferences would have an automatic qualifier with their conference champions. If that MOU was in place this season, it would have put Duke and Notre Dame in and put James Madison and Miami out.

While this MOU came as a shock to some people, I would bet everyone in that committee room knew about it. Reports about athletic directors that were aghast with this arrangement were quite funny too. Either those AD’s are either clueless about what their conference commissioner agreed to and signed, or are just flat out talking bullshit (or both).

It also kind of highlights the story we heard about Jim Phillips giving the wink and a nod about an ACC team being in the playoff this year no matter what, because it was probably an unwritten rule for the conferences this year to follow the “spirit” of next year’s rules — for them. Definitely not for Notre Dame.

So how long do you think the fix was in for Notre Dame? Obviously over the last 4 weeks of the season there were plenty of games that could have gone the other way to NOT set up the 2025 CFP Screwjob, but everything fell in place for the committee to show just how corrupt it really is. I suppose the next step is to start bumping up conference championship losers in the rankings, but I’m sure there will be other creative ways to do it.

It’s hard to not sound like a whiner while pointing out an injustice (and yes this is sports this isn’t as deep as life and death situations around the world). In the end, I think the healthiest way to look at it is from Hymen Roth’s point of view — this is the business we’ve chosen.