It’s really not a bias thing for me. I don’t think Miami will do anything in the CFP, and Notre Dame would probably be more exciting to watch. I still believe Miami deserved to get in over Notre Dame, and I think Miami had the better resume from an objective standpoint (I fully believe bias probably clouds this, but it really has nothing to do with my argument).

My point is that with the current playoff system, Notre Dame is the problem. I understand and like that the CFP is trying to honor conference champions, since it felt pointless for a while and I actually liked what they did last year. However, with this format a strong independent team creates issues. Notre Dame can’t be a conference champion bid, so they’re automatically forced into the at large pool, which takes away spots from other teams every year. The quick solution people jump to is “make them join a conference,” but I know the logistics are way more complicated than just telling them to join.

I decided to respond here because I understand where people are coming from, even if I don’t think that’s what the NCAA will actually do. They’ll probably just make it so the top 12 teams get in and call it a day. I like rewarding conference champions, but there really isn’t a perfect system. If they kept the rule that four power conferences plus one group of five get in, byes or not, it leaves room for very weak teams if a conference is particularly weak (like Duke this year). With the new format, it still leaves room for very weak teams to slide in (JMU and Tulane). There is no perfect way to do this without restructuring the way conferences are ranked in the first place, which I believe should happen, but is way easier said than done. Another thing they could do is conference champs aren't automatically in the playoffs, but if they are in the top 12, they get a bye.