Notre Dame Can Remain Independent According to College Football Playoff Director

College football independents Notre Dame, BYU and Army will not be forced to join an existing conference to be considered for the College Football Playoff, executive director Bill Hancock said Thursday.      

"The three independents are perfectly happy being independent," Hancock said, per Heather Dinich of ESPN.com. "They have the ability to craft their schedules to fit their needs. If their need and goal is to be in the playoff, then they're in the same boat as everybody else. You better play a good schedule if you want to be in the playoff."

Notre Dame in particular has come up in discussions, as some coaches from Power Five conferences believe the Irish have an unfair advantage. ACC coaches, who have a vested interest in Notre Dame's scheduling given their loose relationship with the school, came out over the past week, pushing the agenda. 

"I don't think any program should be treated differently," Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said Tuesday, per Brett McMurphy of ESPN.com. "Notre Dame is a great school, but we all need to be in the same boat [having to play a conference championship game] as far as the playoff."

Now part of the NCAA tradition, coaches have increasingly begun clamoring for a more uniform way to handle the College Football Playoff. Conferences without a championship game, particularly the Big 12, have considered a change after seeing the effect such a game can have on the committee.

"The risks and rewards of conference championship games will always come into play," Hancock said, per Dinich. "I feel the same way about Notre Dame that I feel about the Big 12. It's impossible to quantify the effect of a championship game because you don't know who's going to win the game."

Notre Dame's independence, which allows it the right to schedule games around the country, can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, the Irish in some years have seen seemingly marquee games become washes as formerly prominent programs (Michigan, USC, etc.) fall out of the national scene. In others, the independence has come at a massive disadvantage as the schedule turns into a weekly gauntlet.

Notre Dame's football program has been independent since its inception. Despite numerous offers from other high-profile conferences, it appears the school plans to stay that way—whether opposing coaches like it or not.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.