Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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IN THE TRENCHES ANDREW OWENS ning in 2014. While a number of schools have been forced to scramble for a "Power Five" opponent in future years, Notre Dame has been unaffected because of its consistently rigorous schedule making. "Our strength of schedule has held up very well in recent years," athletics director Jack Swarbrick said in Decem- ber. "We want to continue that. We, like everyone else, believe that is of special importance going forward in the new college playoff model. It will be a factor of significance to the selec- tion committee. "But just focusing on '14, I'd put that schedule from a strength of schedule perspective against any school in the country." Notre Dame's 2014 slate includes an October trip to Tallahassee, Fla., to face defending national champion Florida State, home contests with Pac- 12 champion Stanford and Michigan, as well as November trips to USC and Arizona State, two programs that won 10 games a year ago and have high expectations heading into the fall. With the five-game ACC commit- ment and USC, Navy and Stanford serving as the three annual opponents, that leaves four games per year for Swarbrick to schedule as de facto non- conference games. In the next five years, teams ranging from Michigan and Michigan State to Texas to Georgia will appear on Irish slates. Such rigor in the scheduling pro- cess should alleviate fans' concerns of Notre Dame being invited to the four- team playoff if the Irish take care of business on the field. However, a one- loss regular season leads to a number of questions. How would the selection committee consider an 11-1 Notre Dame squad to say, 12-1 Oregon that won the Pac-12 championship game or an 11-1 SEC team that did not reach the conference title game? This spring, Long said the focus is on determining the four "best" teams, not the four most "deserving." The difference between the two words is important, and it's impossible to pre- dict how the committee will work it out until it actually has to do it. If Ohio State goes 11-1 and misses out on the Big Ten championship game because the defeat came to Michigan State, how does a team that doesn't win its own division get compared to Notre Dame, which is not in a confer- ence? In another example, a one-loss Notre Dame team could be excluded in favor of a two-loss SEC team the committee deems one of the four "best" teams. The uncertainty behind the College Football Playoff will make for an even more exciting (is that even possible?) college football season this fall. It will be months or even a year or two until all of our questions are answered. Un- til then, Notre Dame can rest easy that its schedule won't prohibit the Irish from the four-team playoff conversa- tion. ✦ Andrew Owens has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since August 2013. He can be reached at aowens@blueandgold.com