Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 13, 2017 7 UNDER THE DOME great defense, and that's who we are right now and we're getting better each week." This marked the third time in the four-year history of the CFP rank- ings that Notre Dame debuted in the top 10. In the inaugural rankings in 2014 it began No. 10, but a November swoon dropped it to 7-5 in the regu- lar season. In 2015, the Irish debuted at No. 5 and moved into the top four before falling. The birth of the College Football Playoff committee is also why Kelly decided to no longer vote in the coaches' poll. "They made my vote obsolete in the sense that they could do such a better job of evaluating truly the top teams in the country," Kelly said. "I could get a cursory view of it and a look at it, but I couldn't do the kind of job that the committee can do from 1 to 25." The College Football Playoff matches the No. 1 seed versus No. 4, and No. 2 versus No. 3 in semifinal games that rotate annually among the Big Six bowls: Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Goodyear Cotton Bowl, Capi- tal One Orange Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl, Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual and PlaySta- tion Fiesta Bowl. This season's semifinals will take place on Jan. 1, 2018, at the Rose Bowl presented by Northwestern Mutual and the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The national championship game will be on Jan. 8, 2018, at Mercedes- Benz Stadium in Atlanta. ✦ SAY HELLO TO THE NEW BRANDED SHOE NOTRE DAME BUY IT HERE bit.ly/NDbandit Style Points Versus Nobility A common phrase used among fan bases in determining the College Football Playoff rankings is "style points," which refers mainly to piling on the points to impress the 13-man committee. A prime example occurred in 2014 when Ohio State crushed Wisconsin 59-0 in the Big Ten champion- ship game. That dominance was rewarded by the Buckeyes getting the fourth slot over Big 12 champion TCU (which did not have a league playoff). On the flip side, in 2015 Notre Dame was ranked No. 4 going into the 10th week, but while muddling through 28-7 and 19-16 victories versus Wake Forest and Boston College, respectively — both of which finished 3-9 — the 10-1 Irish dropped to No. 6 by the time they played Stanford in the regular-season finale (which it lost 38-36). This year in convincing wins over North Carolina (33-10) and North Carolina State (35-14), Notre Dame finished the game inside the opponent's 5-yard line in the final minute, but opted to "take a knee" to run out the clock rather than add another touchdown and style points to the résumé. Nobility aside, Kelly said he believed the committee has a discerning eye when it comes to evaluating how well a team is playing, controlling the action and dominating an opponent, and doesn't believe pouring it on is mandatory. "We weren't playing and executing very well later in the 2015 season," Kelly explained. "Five turn- overs against Boston College is different than dominating a really good football team and deciding not to score. "I do what I think is right in those situations, and I don't really concern myself with the need to im- press anybody. I think if you watch the game and you see the game as the committee would, they'll come to the right decisions." — Lou Somogyi