The Fight for the Jeweled Shillelagh: #3 Notre Dame (11-0) v USC (5-6) (8PM ET, ABC)

[TrueOrange]

USC draws first blood in the fight for the Jeweled Shillelagh, and it’s 7-0 Trojans with about 9:45 left in the first quarter.

 

[NorCalVol67]

Go SC. I do not say that often.

 

[joevol33]

Wish they could both lose.

 

[508mikey]

looks like ND just might lose this one --- Meyer is the luckiest darn coach in America

 

[joevol33]

looks like ND just might lose this one --- Meyer is the luckiest darn coach in America

I can hear the sap suckered on ESPN praising him if they make the playoffs for overcoming the adversity at the start of the season. Makes me sick to think about it.

 

[508mikey]

I can hear the sap suckered on ESPN praising him if they make the playoffs for overcoming the adversity at the start of the season. Makes me sick to think about it.

Herbie is doing this game and rooting hard for USC

 

[Boston Vol]

Notre Dame sleepwalking so far

 

[508mikey]

Notre Dame sleepwalking so far

they arent aware the PAC 12 doesnt play defense

 

[508mikey]

ND should be using their running QB

 

[beneVOLence]

ND wins to get murdered in the first game of the playoffs just like the national championship game against Bama a couple of years ago.

 

[TNfan#2]

And Notre Dame is going to the College Football Playoffs. With Michigan loosing and loosing badly, this is going to be very interesting going forward. Michigan is probably out of the running for a playoff spot. Georgia is the number 5 spot in the rankings, and probably one of few teams that can beat Alabama. With Notre Dame not having to deal with a conference championship, at best only 3 Power 5 Conferences are going to have a team in the running this year. I wonder what the odds are of a semi repeat of last year, Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, and Notre Dame.

That would leave the Pac 12, Big 12, and Big Ten all out of the Playoffs. While it's good for Notre Dame to finally have some success, I could see this result adding fuel to the fire for an eventual expansion to an 8 team playoff format going forward. The SEC and ACC have pretty much been guaranteed to have at least one team each in the CFP, or in the case of the SEC two teams last year. So far the Pac 12 and Big 12 have each been excluded twice, and last year the Big Ten didn't have a team involved. This year it's quite possible with Michigan having lost that the Big Ten will not have a playoff team, and it's also quite likely that the Pac 12 will not have a team involved either. Not sure about the Big 12.

Basically if you're not ACC or SEC there's no guarantee that your conference will have a team in the playoffs. Even within the Power 5, some conferences are or at least have the appearance of being superior to others.