I've been a reader for a while but joined just to make this comment. As an ND fan, I've been reading comments all over the interwebs about this game (so apparently I'm a bit of a masochist, too) and this is the first time that I haven't seen a single person complaining that ND shouldn't have been in the game to begin with. Kudos to everyone for recognizing that this wasn't an undefeated 1998 Tulane team. With the schedule that they played, even if it ended up softer than everyone thought and several wins were closer than they should have been, there was no way to logically deny them a shot. It's easy now to say that they didn't belong there but at least we/they got the opportunity to find that out.
Regarding the playoff discussion, I've always said the least controversial option is a 16-team playoff where each conference champ (yes, even Sun Belt) gets a spot and the rest are filled in as at-large. It would be logistically difficult but at least it would give every champ the opportunity. If you don't win your championship, then let the computers/polls decide if you're worthy.
Alabama Crushes Notre Dame in BCS Championship
I've been a reader for a while but joined just to make this comment. As an ND fan, I've been reading comments all over the interwebs about this game (so apparently I'm a bit of a masochist, too) and this is the first time that I haven't seen a single person complaining that ND shouldn't have been in the game to begin with. Kudos to everyone for recognizing that this wasn't an undefeated 1998 Tulane team. With the schedule that they played, even if it ended up softer than everyone thought and several wins were closer than they should have been, there was no way to logically deny them a shot. It's easy now to say that they didn't belong there but at least we/they got the opportunity to find that out.
Regarding the playoff discussion, I've always said the least controversial option is a 16-team playoff where each conference champ (yes, even Sun Belt) gets a spot and the rest are filled in as at-large. It would be logistically difficult but at least it would give every champ the opportunity. If you don't win your championship, then let the computers/polls decide if you're worthy.