Why the Michigan-Michigan State thing does matter, even if both lose to Ohio State.
The College Football Playoff committee released their third set of rankings on Tuesday night and it went on without much of an argument about anything. The biggest controversy remained No. 6 Michigan being ahead of No. 7 Michigan State, who the Wolverines lost to just two weeks ago.
It may have been a surprise last week but it certainly wasn’t a second week in a row as the committee again ranked Michigan ahead of their in-state rivals.
What keeps being said though, is that “it doesn’t matter” because out of No. 4 Ohio State, No. 6 Michigan, and No. 7 Michigan State, whoever finishes with one loss will be in the College Football Playoff, anyway.
The committee is making it clear that although head-to-head results might matter, they can’t be viewed as the be-all-end-all to deciding who a better team is.
And that is great news for Notre Dame.
Great.
It doesn’t apply now but if No. 5 Cincinnati falls to SMU this week or potentially to No. 24 Houston in the American Athletic Conference championship, Notre Dame will be happier than a pig in you-know-what.
Related: Notre Dame’s road map to the College Football Playoff
On the field results are a seen as a guide but don’t determine who a better team is. Even though they continue to rank Oregon ahead of Ohio State, the committee simply ranking Michigan ahead of Michigan State does matter in that it shows that teams can move ahead of someone they lost to, despite having the same record.
If No. 5 Cincinnati falls at any point and No. 8 Notre Dame finishes at 11-1 do you think the Bearcats will still be ranked ahead of the Irish?
I didn’t ask if they should, I asked if they would.
I was seven years old in 1993 and I’m the last person on earth to have to be told that head-to-head results should matter more than anything else. I’ll forever say that Notre Dame deserved the ’93 title over the Florida State team they beat, but history books award that title to the Seminoles.
It was wrong then and a one-loss Notre Dame team being ranked ahead of a potential one-loss Cincinnati team would be wrong now.
But that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t happen.
The committee has pretty much already said as much.
Related: 2021 College football coaching tracker
