Why Auburn and Alabama Should Fear Playoff Wild Card Notre Dame
As dominoes around the country continue to fall, the idea of having two teams from the same conference in the inaugural College Football Playoff is becoming more likely.
It's a long shot, sure. If Auburn or Alabama runs the table—and only one can since the two play each other—there's a really good chance that the winner of the Iron Bowl could have a very strong case to be that second team from the SEC in the playoff.
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Watch out for Notre Dame, though.
The Fighting Irish fell to No. 2 Florida State 31-27 on Saturday night in Tallahassee and nearly won the game on a pick play that went for a touchdown with 13 seconds left. The referees correctly called offensive pass interference on the play, and quarterback Everett Golson's fourth-down prayer wasn't answered.
Despite that, head coach Brian Kelly's crew proved that it belongs in the playoff discussion with other one-loss powers, as CBSSports.com's Jon Solomon notes:
If Notre Dame runs the table from here on out and Florida State keeps winning, it'd have a pretty strong playoff resume.
They'd have wins over Arizona State and USC—both of which are in the top 20 right now, a last-second loss to one of the top teams in the country at their place and, at that point, plenty of momentum.
Would Auburn or Alabama's resumes look more attractive? Probably, but it's impossible to say "definitely" right now.
The winner of the Iron Bowl would likely have a top-five win over its intra-state rival, and likely another since Alabama will host No. 1 Mississippi State on Nov. 15 and Auburn will travel to No. 3 Ole Miss on Nov. 1. If either Mississippi school runs the table and plays for the SEC title, there could be some tense moments for the Iron Bowl winner on selection Sunday.
How much would the absence of a division title hurt?
As an independent, Notre Dame wouldn't have a conference title to boast, either, but the absence of a division title for the Iron Bowl winner could weigh heavily on a selection committee that has "conference championships" listed as its first point of emphasis. Notre Dame can't win one. Auburn and Alabama can. If they don't, will they be penalized?
We don't know because this process is brand new.
A one-loss non-champion from the SEC already has to deal with other top 10 teams from around the country that conceivably will have a conference title to boast, like Oregon, Michigan/Ohio State and whoever emerges from the Big 12.
Now it has Notre Dame—and all that goes along with it, including, gasp, television ratings—to deal with.
It's an unenviable job for the selection-committee members. We're headed full-speed ahead toward a situation where there not only could be several one-loss SEC teams vying for the final playoff spot or spots, but those teams could be battling with other big-name programs from around the country with comparable resumes.
Be wary of Notre Dame. If the Irish stick around, it could be the program to spoil the SEC's playoff party.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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