Could Notre Dame’s saga affect Ohio State and the future of the College Football Playoff?

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State football has formed a bit of a mini rivalry with Notre Dame, despite the Buckeyes’ dominance in the recent history of the series.

The storied programs have met five times since 2006, including three matchups between 2022-25. Each battle has come with high stakes, with Fiesta Bowl titles on the line in 2006 and 2016, College Football Playoff implications at stake in 2022 and 2023 and a National Championship Game in January.

It seemed as though another matchup was lining up in the upcoming playoff, but instead, the CFP committee made a controversial decision Sunday.

The Fighting Irish, who were ahead of Miami in every previous CFP ranking, were jumped by the Hurricanes after both teams were idle during conference championship weekend. Miami earned the final at-large bid as the No. 10 seed slated to face No. 7 Texas A&M, with the winner advancing to the Cotton Bowl for a matchup with No. 2 Ohio State.

Notre Dame, in stunning fashion, saw its championship aspirations come to an end.

While Ohio State doesn’t have to worry about facing former Buckeye-turned-Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman in the postseason, the implications of the committee’s decision could impact the future structure of the CFP, hence potentially affecting future OSU teams.

The playoff expanded from four teams to 12 ahead of the 2024 season. The structure came with automatic bids to the five highest-ranked conference champions – a caveat the independent Irish could never benefit from.

That won’t be the case moving forward. Last spring, CFP officials signed a memorandum of understanding — which goes into effect next year — requiring Notre Dame to get into the field if it is ranked in the top 12.

Using this season as an example, the MOU would have bumped Miami (the final at-large team) out of the field in favor of No. 11 Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish would essentially get the benefit of a highly-ranked conference champion.

Ohio State has been the face of consistency in the sport, so the thought of the Buckeyes being the final at-large team in the field feels like a distant concern.

However, it’s worth remembering OSU went 10-2 last season before making its run to a national title. The highest-ranked two-loss team this year is Oklahoma at No. 8 while the lowest-ranked two-loss team from the Big Ten or SEC is Vanderbilt at No. 14.

Another consequence of Notre Dame’s absence could center around the CFP rankings.

Starting in early November, the committee releases its weekly top 25. This year’s first rankings featured Notre Dame (6-2) at No. 10 while Miami was at No. 18 with the same record and a head-to-head victory over the Irish.

The Hurricanes moved closer to the Irish each week, but they never jumped Notre Dame during the regular season because the committee felt the two teams weren’t at a comparable level yet. However, following BYU’s drop from No. 11 — and Alabama staying put at No. 9 — Miami and Notre Dame stood side-by-side in the final rankings.

Finally, the committee felt the programs were level and head-to-head could determine which team got the final at-large bid. The Irish lost to the Hurricanes, so their placement below Miami shouldn’t come as a surprise. However, Notre Dame felt it was misled by the week-to-week rankings, ultimately delivering a shocking blow to players in South Bend, Indiana.

ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, while speaking on “College Gameday” this weekend, anticipated such a result for Notre Dame and made a stance against the weekly rankings which attract audiences to his employer.

“I just think it sets us up for things like, ‘Well that doesn’t make sense, how could you do that? You’ve had Notre Dame ahead of these guys all week, they didn’t even play, how are you going to flip Miami now?’ It’s really not supposed to be the real rankings until the season is over,” he said.

Ohio State coach Ryan Day has made his stance on the weekly rankings clear: he doesn’t care. The Buckeyes were the No. 1 team each week until their loss to Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game — a defeat that proved Day’s theory right.

It didn’t matter for OSU to spend all those weeks atop the nation. However, if Ohio State didn’t have the season it had, the weekly rankings could have provided a litmus test for where the team stands in the latter part of the season.

If ESPN listens to prominent figures in the sport, such as those in South Bend or those working for the company, teams may not know where they stand until the season is over.

Perhaps that’ll create more angst for teams with multiple losses. Or maybe it’ll keep teams such as Notre Dame from suffering a shocking fate that somehow shouldn’t have been too surprising considering a head-to-head result.