Notre Dame Fans React To New College Football Playoff Changes

In a world of rapid change, Notre Dame stays pliable and viable

Over the past few years, the college football landscape has undergone significant changes.

From conference realignment to CFP changes, NIL, and portal adjustments, it's a lot for schools and athletic directors to keep up with.

As for Notre Dame, new AD Pete Bevacqua has a tough task on his hands as the representative of the only independent football operation that has a seat at the negotiating table with the "powers that be" that determine what the sport we love so much will look and feel like.

The most recent adjustment to the CFP model, a straight ranking / seeding structure that will be used from now on to determine the top 12 CFP spots, brings with it an interesting Irish caveat.

Under this model, Notre Dame is eligible for a round one bye. This is a big change that eliminates the "Notre Dame tax" that existed under the old format, in which, regardless of rank, the highest seed the Irish could be is fifth.

Getting this accomplished is a big win for Bevacqua, as it seems he navigated Notre Dame into a bye-eligible position seemingly without sacrificing anything to get it. This is a great piece of work by the new Irish AD, who has a tough task. Keeping Notre Dame viable now, while remaining flexible enough to pivot in new directions if need be, as the CFP outlier.

Irish fans react to the breaking CFP news

The Notre Dame fan reaction to the news is generally positive. I'm no math whiz, but even I know it's easier to win three games in a row to win a title than it is to win four. And without having to give anything up to earn such status, this is a huge win for the Irish. Period.

That being said, there are some nuanced angles to consider with this change. One that has come up frequently since the news broke has to do with the time off Notre Dame may have between the end of the regular season and the first CFP game should the Irish be ranked inside the top four.

Under this model, Notre Dame would be off for conference championship week and then off again the week of the first round of CFP games. Will this long layoff help or hurt the Irish? I think that answer will depend on the circumstances. If the team is healthy, I'd prefer to keep playing. If the Irish are a bit beat up, as they were last postseason, the long layoff may help the team.

There's only one way to test these theories for Notre Dame. Play well enough to run the full experiment.

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