How Notre Dame Could Help Create an Eight-Team College Football Playoff

Change seldom comes quickly to college football, and when it does finally arrive, it's typically because someone felt left out.

Case in point: for years, the people running the sport claimed that a playoff system would ruin the regular season. Now, of course, we have a four-team College Football Playoff—largely because the SEC went to eight straight BCS championships, prompting the other major conferences to think, Hey, you know what? A more inclusive postseason tournament isn't such a bad idea.

Thanks to Notre Dame, we could see renewed calls for increased playoff participation.

While the current four-team Playoff format is more egalitarian than the BCS system, it also means that at least one power conference always will be left out. Last year, that distinction fell to the Big 12, which had no undefeated team and no conference championship game.

This season, current Playoff poll No. 4 Notre Dame is in prime position to vulture a postseason spot, which would leave two power conferences on the outside looking in. The Pac-12 has just about been eliminated already, with none of its teams having fewer than two losses, and the Big 12 also could get stiffed, as its champion likely will battle with the Fighting Irish for the final playoff spot.

Even before this year, Notre Dame's potential Playoff inclusion was a source of consternation. Clemson's Dabo Swinney, Florida State's Jimbo Fisher, and Missouri's Gary Pinkel were among the many coaches who complained that the school shouldn't be up for postseason consideration without joining a conference.

These complaints are unfounded, as Notre Dame's schedule is tougher than those of many teams currently in Playoff contention. According to the Sagarin ratings, the Irish have the 25th-toughest schedule in college football. Oklahoma (No. 44), Oklahoma State (No. 58), Iowa (No. 55), Clemson (No. 34), and Ohio State (No. 67) all rank below it.

Notre Dame plays a quasi-ACC schedule, with five games each year against opponents from that conference; its non-ACC schedule this season is tougher than the non-conference schedule of any contender other than Stanford. In other words, if Notre Dame wins out, it deserves a postseason berth. If it lands one, the Irish could help push the Playoff to an eight-team format sooner rather than later.

If you're a power conference commissioner or school president, here's the problem with the current system: it's set up to reward the best four teams in the country, but not the winner of each power conference. That's bad enough if you're the Big 12 last year; it's worse still if you're the Pac-12 and Big 12 this year, and watching unaffiliated Notre Dame hoover up Playoff money and excitement.

Small wonder, then, that ACC commissioner John Swofford, who last year saw Florida State squeak into the Playoff, already is in favor of going to eight teams:

Swofford, speaking at a Wednesday luncheon at the Durham (N.C.) Sports Club, said eight, "in terms of the number of teams, would probably be ideal" for a playoff, according to the Durham Herald-Sun.

"I don't think all the controversy's going to go away," Swofford said of the four-team College Football Playoff, according to the newspaper. "You have four teams that get a chance to play for the national championship, which is twice as many as before, but whoever's fifth or sixth is not going to be happy. There will be some conferences that won't have a team in the playoff."

For a sport with five power conferences and five non-power conferences, an eight-team playoff with automatic bids for the conferences champions and the best non-power team, plus two wild cards, makes the most sense. Four additional games means billions in addition television revenue, too. Eventually, an eight-team expansion seems inevitable—and this year's Playoff picture, with the Power Five sweating out inclusion against each other and Notre Dame, could speed the process.

There's nothing the power brokers in college sports hate more than missing out. If you want a bigger College Football Playoff, root for the Fighting Irish.