The final College Football Playoff rankings have been released and Notre Dame fans are bummed out the Fighting Irish didn’t make it.
It just wasn’t meant to be for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish this season. While the team put on a show from start to finish and went 11-1, the loss at home to Cincinnati early in the year ultimately ended their chances of making it into the College Football Playoff.
Cincinnati is in at No. 4, while Alabama is No. 1, Michigan is No. 2 and Georgia is No. 3 in the final CFP rankings. Irish fans across the country were praying to the football gods that the team would somehow be able to sneak into the top four, but it just didn’t happen.
Once Oklahoma State lost, there was some hope, but with Cincinnati, Alabama and Michigan winning their games, there was no room in the four-team field for the No. 5 team.
Notre Dame missing out on the College Football Playoff has folks frustrated
It really has been a hectic week for Notre Dame, as the team shockingly saw Brian Kelly leave South Bend for the LSU job. Defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman has since been promoted to head coach. For the Notre Dame supporters, this latest CFP news adds to the sting of Kelly dipping out as well.
Brian Kelly after seeing Notre Dame at No. 5pic.twitter.com/XBqjCD0wxD
— Jamarcus Fitzpatrick (@JFitzTV) December 5, 2021
No. 1 Alabama
— Megan Smedley (@MeganSmedley_) December 5, 2021
No. 2 Michigan
No. 3 Georgia
No. 4 Cincinnati
No. 5 Notre Dame
Irish miss out on the College Football Playoff. Have to wait until 2:30 for the New Year's Six Bowls Announcement. pic.twitter.com/FjT98GtfNF
No surprise to see Notre Dame at No. 5. There was so much help the Irish needed yesterday. We’ll see where they’re going bowling.
— Coley Harvey (@ColeyHarvey) December 5, 2021
if notre dame was in the ACC, and won last night, they probably get in over cincinnati. enjoy your independence in the fiesta bowl. #CFBPlayoff
— Pitt Girl C-137 (@blamberr) December 5, 2021
Notre Dame >> Georgia
— WK. (@UncleWayne__) December 5, 2021
If it’s 8 teams we get a Cincy Notre Dame rematch, something the entire nation wanted to see
— Breen (@danny_b_27) December 5, 2021
Notre dame deserves to be in over Georgia lmao. Ohio State deserves less. Michigan beat the heck out of OSU and Oregon exposed OSU early in the year.
— Spooder (@SouthernSpooder) December 5, 2021
Notre Dame finished 5th and their 1 loss was at home to Cincy. It's also not their fault Indiana (another road W) took a step back this season. I'm not naive to the fact that Cincy didn't play a P5 schedule, but they did everything that was asked of them to get in this position.
— Ryan Porth (@Porth670) December 5, 2021
At the end of the day, Notre Dame fans were hoping that the committee would have punished Georgia for the loss to Alabama. While the Bulldogs did drop to No. 3, that wasn’t enough to help out Notre Dame. The hope for Notre Dame was that Georgia would have taken care of business against Alabama in the SEC title game, but the opposite was the case.
For Freeman, he’ll lead his guys out onto the field for one more game this winter, but it just won’t be with a trip to the National Championship Game on the line.
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