Which two sets of teams are BETTER?  The question is NOT, "Which two sets of teams deserve to be in the CFP?"

Vandy and Notre Dame are better. 

No brainer here coach. ND lost to Miami on a catch of the decade and then blew a lead to the Aggies late. Vandy would run all over Tulane and JMU. Texas for all their woes would destroy these two as well. If these smaller schools want to be included then schedule up outside of conference. Whoops Tulane did and lost 45-7 to Ole Miss, who didn’t make the SEC championship game.

Not an angry rant, I promise.

15 minutes ago, Breds82 said:

No brainer here coach. ND lost to Miami on a catch of the decade and then blew a lead to the Aggies late. Vandy would run all over Tulane and JMU. Texas for all their woes would destroy these two as well. If these smaller schools want to be included then schedule up outside of conference. Whoops Tulane did and lost 45-7 to Ole Miss, who didn’t make the SEC championship game.

Not an angry rant, I promise.

If you want to hang out w/ a dinosaur, head over to my thread on the bowl lineup. Lol

But… to be honest, life can’t be too tough if this is what irritates us. 

Merry Christmas! ?

34 minutes ago, Breds82 said:

No brainer here coach. ND lost to Miami on a catch of the decade and then blew a lead to the Aggies late. Vandy would run all over Tulane and JMU. Texas for all their woes would destroy these two as well. If these smaller schools want to be included then schedule up outside of conference. Whoops Tulane did and lost 45-7 to Ole Miss, who didn’t make the SEC championship game.

Not an angry rant, I promise.

...and, getting sent BACK there. Because, that makes getting in....make even more sense.

No question who is better. Vandy/ND

I feel equally as bad for Texas. Two loss Texas gets in & a three loss Texas should be in over Bama.

I love it that ND said "Nah, we're good" when passing on a bowl game. If that's not a 'power move of Standing on Business' ( as I saw someone on their IG page say), then I don't know what is.

2 hours ago, ChiefSmoke said:

If you want to hang out w/ a dinosaur, head over to my thread on the bowl lineup. Lol

But… to be honest, life can’t be too tough if this is what irritates us. 

Merry Christmas! ?

Happy Merry Christmas coach.

1 hour ago, ChiefSmoke said:

If you want to hang out w/ a dinosaur, head over to my thread on the bowl lineup. Lol

But… to be honest, life can’t be too tough if this is what irritates us. 

Merry Christmas! ?

As one of my former pastors would say, "that's definitely a first world problem". Have a great Christmas and a terrific 2026.

I believe this situation will help the NCAA expand to 16 and I can see some of the conference championship games disappearing. Kirby Smart had a great take about the situation. The SEC is going to 9 games.....the champion and runner-up will play 10!! He said his team and Alabama were really beat up after yesterday. 

Vandy and Notre Dame are clearly better.  But they really have no one to blame but themselves for being on the outside looking in.  You have to include the group of fives, otherwise what is their motivation to keep fielding teams?  If there is no chance whatsoever to make the playoff, why spend the money trying.

Vandy got thumped pretty good by Bama.  They didn't have to play Georgia, Ole Miss or Oklahoma or A&M.  The loss to a mediocre Texas team cost them.

If Notre Dame would just smell the winds and join a conference, they'd have little to worry about.  They were miles better than both Duke and Virginia (and almost everyone else in the ACC).  If they joined like they did for all other sports, they likely would have breezed through the ACC title game and would have been in as one of the five ranked conference champions.  But they didn't.  Identical record to Miami. Almost all other metrics favored ND but Miami was close enough to basically call it even.  Miami won on the field.  Canes in, Irish out.

Edited December 8, 2025Dec 8 by Tranquility Base

And now the Irish have done their usual order of a Whahburger and some frenchcries and won't accept a bowl bid of any sort.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/articles/cowards-notre-dame-took-ball-215641383.html

Attention South Bend.  It isn't 1960 anymore.  You are not the be-all end-all of college football.

Edited December 8, 2025Dec 8 by Tranquility Base

ND lifer, I’m 43, and wish they would’ve joined the Big 10 in 1992

3 hours ago, ChiefSmoke said:

Which two sets of teams are BETTER?  The question is NOT, "Which two sets of teams deserve to be in the CFP?"

This maybe the dumbest question I've ever heard asked. That's like asking which is better Apples or Green Persimmon's?  

15 hours ago, Tranquility Base said:

Vandy and Notre Dame are clearly better.  But they really have no one to blame but themselves for being on the outside looking in.  You have to include the group of fives, otherwise what is their motivation to keep fielding teams?  If there is no chance whatsoever to make the playoff, why spend the money trying.

Vandy got thumped pretty good by Bama.  They didn't have to play Georgia, Ole Miss or Oklahoma or A&M.  The loss to a mediocre Texas team cost them.

If Notre Dame would just smell the winds and join a conference, they'd have little to worry about.  They were miles better than both Duke and Virginia (and almost everyone else in the ACC).  If they joined like they did for all other sports, they likely would have breezed through the ACC title game and would have been in as one of the five ranked conference champions.  But they didn't.  Identical record to Miami. Almost all other metrics favored ND but Miami was close enough to basically call it even.  Miami won on the field.  Canes in, Irish out.

 

15 hours ago, Tranquility Base said:

And now the Irish have done their usual order of a Whahburger and some frenchcries and won't accept a bowl bid of any sort.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/articles/cowards-notre-dame-took-ball-215641383.html

Attention South Bend.  It isn't 1960 anymore.  You are not the be-all end-all of college football.

While it’s everyone’s favorite pastime to criticize Notre Dame, they’ve been miles ahead of where the general public insists they should be. Let’s start with the basics: they played for a title last year, and this year they finished one spot outside of it. That's no small feat.

The idea that their strength of schedule would suddenly skyrocket by joining a conference is purely speculative, given the current conference imbalances. This isn’t a Gonzaga basketball situation where a team feasts on mid-majors all season. Sure, Notre Dame’s opponents this year weren’t world beaters, but nothing is preventing this year’s schedule from ranking as a top-20 schedule next season. In fact, their SOS finished one spot ahead of Miami’s and just four spots behind Ole Miss.

And if Notre Dame is truly the perpetually overrated machine people claim (not debating the merits of this), then why would they voluntarily choose a tougher path? That would eliminate their advantage. They’re running the okie-doke on everyone — most people just can’t see it.

Everyone sees the scam or okie doke that ND is running. Play your only tough opponents early, then run off a string of victories to end the season and say, "Look at us, 10 wins in a row. We must be great!"

ND isn't a bad team, I just don't feel they are deserving this year. I think Miami and Vanderbilt are both better and possibly Texas. Yes they are better than JMU, Tulane and even Duke, but they knew a G5 power team was always going to get in when they signed on.

16 hours ago, Jumper_Dad said:

Everyone sees the scam or okie doke that ND is running. Play your only tough opponents early, then run off a string of victories to end the season and say, "Look at us, 10 wins in a row. We must be great!"

ND isn't a bad team, I just don't feel they are deserving this year. I think Miami and Vanderbilt are both better and possibly Texas. Yes they are better than JMU, Tulane and even Duke, but they knew a G5 power team was always going to get in when they signed on.

Notre Dame while not in a conference played 10 games against P5 schools this year, so it isn't like they aren't playing P5 schools like teams in conferences do, they are playing just as many P5 games as teams in conferences. Then their two non P5 games were Navy, and Boise State who won their conference.

For comparison Notre Dame's strength of schedule this year is higher than 4 teams who are in the CFP. Their strength of schedule was higher than Big 12 Champ Texas Tech, and also higher than Miami's in the ACC. So the two best teams in the ACC and Big 12, Notre Dame had a tougher schedule than. Then they obviously had tougher schedule than Tulane and James Madison. Notre Dame schedule was only 6 spots behind Ole Miss in the SEC, and only 15 spots behind Indiana. So while Notre Dame may not be in a conference, let's not act like all these conference teams in the CFP played better schedules just because they were in a conference. Notre Dame's schedule isn't as drastically bad as some others like to try to claim. 

 Which to hit on what you said about playing Miami and Texas A&M the first two games. I don't think we are even having this discussion if Notre Dame say had played Miami and Texas A&M the last two games instead. As probably a much better chance that Notre Dame wins both of those games, if they didn't play them at the start of the year.