Why the SEC’s Bowl Losses Are a Double-Edged Sword for Notre Dame Fans

Notre Dame opted to stay home for bowl season after missing out on the College Football Playoff, and has remained in plenty of headlines across the sport despite not playing.

If you've paid attention to the bowl games early on, you've probably noticed one thing in particular.

The SEC is struggling in a major way.

And although that may retroactively help Notre Dame's case in that it should have made the College Football Playoff, it only makes things sting more in the moment.

ESPN's SEC Lovefest Cost Notre Dame a Playoff Spot

Flashback to the end of November when Alabama snuck by what wound up being an Auburn team that finished the year 5-7. That 27-20 victory for the Crimson Tide was deemed enough at the time by the College Football Playoff committee to move Alabama ahead of Notre Dame in the rankings.

The grind of the SEC was cited as a reason, and Alabama being able to withstand a fight from a below-average Power Four team (a week after playing mighty Eastern Illinois, mind you) was cited as a reason why.

But Alabama had beaten the likes of Georgia, Missouri, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee during the year, so clearly the Crimson Tide had a case, right?

SEC Bowl's Struggles Show Real Story of Conference

SEC apologists will tell you that the bowl games don't matter for teams from their conference, and act like they're the only ones who have ever dealt with players opting out of them.

Through the early afternoon hours on December 31, we've seen the SEC now go a combined 2-6 in postseason games played to date. In games played not between a pair of SEC teams that record falls to 1-5.

Missouri ended its season earlier this week with an embarrassing 13-7 loss to Virginia in the Gator Bowl while Tennessee was upset Tuesday night by Illinois in the Music City Bowl. Both the Tigers and Volunteers finished the year with 8-5 records, but without a win over a single team that finished with a winning record.

#Illini Bret Bielema after beating Tennessee in the music city bowl
“Na na na na, hey hey hey, good bye” pic.twitter.com/DejtwCERoo
— Carson Gourdie (@GourdieReport) December 31, 2025

For good measure, Vanderbilt's loss Wednesday in the Reliaquest Bowl to Iowa finished the Commodores' year at 10-3. What was the best win Vanderbilt had? Pick your favorite between beating ultimately 7-6 LSU, 8-5 Missouri, or 8-5 Tennessee.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Takeaway:

I won't sit and defend Notre Dame's schedule as it wound up being rather unimpressive. However, it's clear what the SEC and ESPN did in building up the conference.

The best out-of-conference win for the entire conference this year was what, Georgia sneaking by Georgia Tech? Or LSU winning at what wound up being an unimpressive Clemson squad?

The SEC was propped up and sold as great because of things that happened in the sport of college football years ago. Yes, the SEC ran the sport for a very long time, but those days are done.

If all goes as it should, Indiana will take care of business against Alabama in Thursday's Rose Bowl, and the SEC's dreadful postseason will continue.

ESPN will still go into next year carrying the SEC's water, certainly telling us that the postseason doesn't matter (unless it was a game an SEC team won).

Perhaps more eyes will open ahead of next season, though, and understand better how the proverbial sausage is made, and fewer college football fans and media types will enter the season with their SEC blinders on.

College Football Playoff is Extra Winnable This Year

The other part that hurts from a Notre Dame perspective is just how winnable the College Football Playoff is this year. Sure, Notre Dame needed to take care of business against either Miami or Texas A&M, and it's case would have been impeccible, but that doesn't change this year's field.

There isn't a team as dominant as 2024 Ohio State in this field. Ohio State's defense is great, but its offense isn't what last year's was. Indiana is great, but needed last-second heroics to get by both Iowa and Penn State this fall.

Notre Dame was not only built for a postseason run, the path to a deep run was even better than it was a year ago.

That's what makes this whole postseason sting even more as its gone on if you're a Notre Dame fan.