The dust is yet to settle on the playoff committee’s decision to snub Notre Dame out of the final 12 teams that’d have a chance to win the national championship. The Irish reacted to the snub by opting out of the bowl game. Initially, the pro-Notre Dame argument targeted Miami and Alabama, but lately, the focus has shifted to the inclusion of two G5 teams. While discussing the Oregon vs. James Madison first-round Playoff game, Urban Meyer also gave his take on the matter.

“I would mandate that a James Madison or a non-power four, you have to play three programs in the top 50 programs, or you can’t be,” said Urban Meyer on the Dec. 17 episode of The Triple Option podcast. “You win your conference and win whatever, but you can’t be considered. And that would tell the ADs and all that. You have to be judged on that. You can’t be judged on the other games. You just can’t. And I’m not disrespecting.

However, it’s all you’re telling the Fighting Irish to sit home, and James Madison’s going. I didn’t want to say right or wrong or deserving or not. The better team’s supposed to be in the game. That’s it. So, if you’re telling me James Madison and Vegas come out and say, ‘Well, James Madison would beat Notre Dame.’ Then they made the right choice. If not, then it’s not the right choice.”

When the decision was made to go from four teams to 12, G5 schools were included to make the field inclusive. However, not even the decision makers envisioned that two G5 programs would make the final cut. However, Tulane and James Madison entered the playoffs due to the outcome in the ACC. The fact that Duke won the conference championship meant that there would have been no ACC representation if the committee had kept Miami out.

And even with a conference win, no one was going to include a Duke team sitting at five losses. All that worked in James Madison’s favor. Next year, this will be corrected; however, Meyer’s larger point remains valid when it comes to the level of competition in the playoffs. Both Ole Miss and Oregon are heavy favorites against Tulane and James Madison, respectively. Compare that to the matchup between Oklahoma and Alabama or the game between Miami and Texas A&M.

You’re giving two programs an easy entry into the second round just because of how the seedings were done.

Marcus Freeman continues to make the Notre Dame case

Marcus Freeman had the same question that Urban Meyer had: ‘‘Who’s the best team now?‘ Freeman stressed that everyone wanted the best team on top of the CFP seedings, but they were left out in the final CFP rankings.

“And that’s what the playoff committee wants, and I’m sure that’s what college football fans want,” Marcus Freeman said before the final CFP rankings. “I think anytime you look at one single data point, it’s going to sway you one way or another.”

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The Fighting Irish, as a 10-2 team, were expecting at least a 9th or 10th spot in the CFP rankings, as they were above Miami, which is the other 2-loss team. However, Miami made it two spots ahead in the playoffs, whereas Notre Dame and BYU lost their spots to the G5 conference champions, James Madison and Tulane.