They’ve been arguing about the new College Football Playoff format for nearly a year, bickering back and forth over stuff that makes no sense.
It’s time for the Big Ten and SEC to resolve the College Football Playoff mess by simplifying it: Eat what you kill.
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No more automatic qualifiers.
No more gifts to the four power conferences, no more “sorry” admissions to the Group of Six. It has 16 teams, a selection committee made up of former coaches and media members, and every invitation is based on merit.
Not about conference affiliation or philanthropy.
No longer will there be an athletic director on the selection committee with an obvious bias and inherent investment in one program or another. There was no longer the sense that Jane and Joe were just randomly showing up on the street to committees and ordinary people.
I want people to understand the ball — and members of the media, keep coaches away from their inherent investments — and understand the nuances of the game, and not be bound by some trendy formula that can’t vote for one team over another because the two teams never vote in the same quartile. Or whatever the hell the current committee is trying to sell Notre Dame and Miami.
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Should Notre Dame be ticked? You better believe it should.
The committee can’t tell you one thing for four weeks — that head-to-head competition doesn’t matter — and then tell you the exact opposite in the final poll.
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That doesn’t mean the Irish should throw a tantrum and pull out of bowl season, but it does mean we have to take a closer look at how this thing works and how to simply fix it. No matter how hard Notre Dame and the Six Nations try to get in.
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The current memorandum of understanding on the new CFP contract, which begins with the 2026 season, stipulates that Notre Dame will automatically enter if it finishes in the top 12. Of course, the highest-ranked Group of Six conference champions also gain automatic entry.
This is a memorandum of understanding and is not legally set in stone.
Ladies and gentlemen, I’m here to tell you that the days of pandering to Notre Dame are over. The same goes for a group of six.
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The Group of Six is in a bit of trouble because they may start talking about legal action and antitrust laws. But there’s an easy way around this: Pay them off.
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Give them more cash from the new 16-team CFP model (which will make more money than the $1.4 billion per year they make now) and give them the same guarantees as everyone else. If you finish in the top 16, you enter the CFP.
If you don’t, you’ll have better luck next year.
Remember this, everyone: The Big Ten and SEC have the ultimate ace. If they don’t like the way this thing is set up, they can walk away and have their own playoff game – there’s not much any enterprising lawyer can do about it.
So what does the Group of Six have? Bupkiss.
And Notre Dame? Same thing: if you finish in the top 16, you’re in the playoffs. No more bending over to a university with its own TV contract.
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For years, the Big Ten and SEC didn’t want to rock Notre Dame’s ship — just in case the Irish decided to join a conference. The two major premier leagues in sports continue to wink at Notre Dame and allow this ridiculous advantageous approach to the BCS/CFP.
no longer. The idea of ”The Hunchback of Notre Dame” becoming a TV show certainly makes sense, but it’s not as good as it once was. Decades ago, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” dominated television and developed a cult following.
Now, every game — every FBS game — is televised in one way or another. There is a fall football smorgasbord every Saturday and every other day except Sunday.
Notre Dame is no longer the attraction it once was. According to Nielsen, the top 10 teams in ratings this season are all SEC and Big Ten teams.
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Last year, when Notre Dame advanced to the CFP Tournament and received $20 million from a lucrative CFP contract, its game against Ohio State drew 22.1 million viewers. It was one of the lowest-rated games in BCS/CFP Championship Game history.
How low you ask? The fifth least viewed game of the BCS/CFP era.
This is not a narrative or hatred of Notre Dame, these are facts. There’s no reason to capitulate to Notre Dame other than the Big Ten and SEC hoping the Irish will wake up and draft them.
They won’t. It would be fiscally reckless of Notre Dame to do so—not to mention its steadfast determination to remain independent.
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That’s fine. Just like the Six decided to take a chance and threaten legal action and figured the Big Ten and SEC wouldn’t give up on the whole process.
You will not prevent Notre Dame and the Sixers from attending the CFP, they will have the same access as everyone else. Do you want to expand CFP beyond 16? Go ahead, just don’t change the foundations of the New Deal.
Eat what you kill.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X @MattHayesCFB.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: CFP question is automatic qualifier, no matter what Notre Dame thinks