Notre Dame Didn’t Blow This, The Committee Did

Paul Finebaum wants to run his mouth about Notre Dame “just needing to join a conference.” That is the most tired, surface-level take you could possibly throw out, and it flat-out ignores everything that actually happened. Joining a conference doesn’t magically make a committee suddenly honest. If Notre Dame were in the ACC, we still don’t know they’d be in the title game, because the ACC didn’t even send, MIAMI. They sent Duke and, Virginia. So stop pretending this is some easy alternate universe where Notre Dame controls its own destiny. They don’t, because the committee keeps moving the goalposts.

Meanwhile Alabama gets blown out by 21 in the SEC title game, and the committee literally said they weren’t going to punish them for it. Tell BYU that, because they absolutely punished BYU for losing their conference title game. So what is it? Losing matters or losing doesn’t matter? Oh, right, it depends on the logo.

Alabama has three losses and two of those by 35 total, but suddenly the August loss “shouldn’t count” because Florida State had a down year. Notre Dame? One loss. By three. Four total points all season. But somehow, THAT team needs a conference? Give me a break.

This isn’t about conferences, and it sure as hell isn’t about fairness. It’s about protecting certain brands, excusing certain conferences, and pretending the math changes when the helmet changes. If Finebaum wants to talk embarrassing, maybe he should look at the committee’s logic instead of pretending Notre Dame forgot to fill out the right membership form.