The SEC’s “champion” Paul Finebaum has spoken up for Notre Dame. Well, sort of. The ESPN personality joined Mike Greenberg and Heather Dinich to discuss the College Football Playoff proposal to expand the field from it’s current 4 team format to include twelve.
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The College Football Playoff is considering expanding from four teams to 12, with the four highest-ranked conference champs getting a first-round bye. Unfortunately for Notre Dame, as an independent, they would not be eligible.@finebaum: "This is really not fair to Notre Dame!" pic.twitter.com/nMi0IvvZ76
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) June 11, 2021
Finebaum was critical of the Irish “literally stolen championships because they are Notre Dame,” but that wasn’t the point, it was about the potential CFP chaos that could be on the horizon if the proposal is passed.
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As we found out, under the proposed new format, the Irish wouldn’t be able to qualify for a first-round bye due to not being able to be crowned a conference champion. According to Finebaum, this could force Notre Dame to join a conference, like they did this past season.
It’s time Jack Swarbrick and those who run Notre Dame need to get with the program The ‘program’ is that they need to join a conference… I think it’s better for Notre Dame to be in a conference because there are too many obstacles. – Finebaum
If the CFP does actually make the move to 12 teams, it does make for an interesting conversation for the Irish. Is it worth not getting a chance to have a bye? Does having a home game in the first-round and not having to play an extra game outweigh not even qualifying for a top-4 seed?
It’s something to ponder if this does get passed but would it be worth it for the Irish to join a conference? That’s the real question.
