Is the 1st CFP Rankings of the Season Just Rage Bait for Notre Dame Fans?

The first College Football Playoff rankings of November are out, and Rich found the one detail that set him off. Look at the top 10. Notre Dame isn't in it.

Rich set it up with some history. Last year, he said, the committee essentially told Notre Dame, "Nice season you had there, but sorry, you're not even going to be in the playoffs." Before this season, CJ Carr told the show the coach had come up with a mantra: leave no doubt. "Sounds to me like that's a response to being left out," Rich said. The plan was simple. Keep beating people up and they'll put you in. "Unless they think that you play a soft schedule."

Instead, Rich sees the top of the rankings stacked a familiar way. Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss are all in. "Hey, just means more in the SEC," Rich said, with plenty of sarcasm. Notre Dame, with one loss, is out of the top 10. Ohio State has two losses, one to Texas and one to USC with a backup quarterback, and Rich figures the committee is "yawning at that" because SEC teams have to be in there because they're SEC teams.

"It's a Southeast bias in college football," Rich said. "I will say it over and over and over again until I'm blue in the face."

"I don't like your tone," came the response from across the table. Rich just kept going, pointing to Kentucky as another SEC team in the mix. "It's a fact."

His real question: if Notre Dame loses to Miami, are the Irish out? "That's what they're telling us," Rich said. "A two-loss Notre Dame team that's playing its ass off and is really talented doesn't make it." It bothered him enough that he joked, "I still think Rudy was offsides. Okay, so at least I can say that."

The counterpoint from the table was blunt. "They are telling you put a competitive schedule together. They dictate who they play."

The conversation turned to the bye teams. Right now the four teams getting a bye are Utah, Georgia, Miami and Indiana. The question was how many of them will still be bye teams when it's all said and done. The over on one and a half was the pick, with Miami and Georgia as the likeliest, though the Georgia reasoning came with another dig: "because they play in the SEC."

Rich also noted that UCLA is an eight seed while undefeated, and couldn't resist one more jab. "But there's Arch. Arch is in there," he said. "Cause it just means more."

That's when he looked for backup. "Help me out here, TJ," Rich said. The reply turned it right back around on the Big Ten: "You had three great years and now you're down. It's fine."

Someone also noticed Rich's own team was missing from the list. "That ship sailed a long time ago," Rich said, adding that if Michigan had only finished against Iowa and Indiana at home, "they'd be in this mix right now."

From there it became a full Big Ten versus SEC argument. One side insisted the Big Ten is boring and "puts me to sleep." The other side countered that the Big Ten wins championships, while the SEC "hasn't even been in the championship game in 4 years."

The closing jab came about Miami's future conference home. Let them join the SEC, came the suggestion, because then they'll be propped up "just like all these teams right here." And Notre Dame, apparently, still doesn't deserve a seat at the table.