Miami in, Notre Dame out. Did the committee get it right? 

The Committee

A group of people come together to ultimately decide the fate of teams and whether or not they will be in the playoff. They take a lot of heat no matter the decisions they make, and leave fans angry. The most recent controversial decision that the committee made that sent the College Football world into a frenzy, was Miami being in the playoff over Notre Dame. This caused Notre Dame to opt out of their scheduled bowl game. A bit petty in my opinion, but I see where they are coming from. This is a Notre Dame team that was ranked number 9 in the top 25 rankings, but ultimately missed the playoffs. Not to mention, they were in the playoff in last week’s projections. The committee explained that they went strictly off of head to head matchups, as Miami defeated Notre Dame 27-24 in Week 1.

Did Miami deserve to be in?

I think the committee got it right with Miami being in. If you look at their schedules, Miami had the tougher schedule. They went 4-0 against ranked opponents at the time they were ranked, with wins over 6. Notre Dame, 18. USF, 18. FSU, and took down 22. Pitt in their most recent game. Notre Dame went 2-2 against ranked opponents at the time they were ranked, with losses to 10. Miami and 16. Texas A&M, and wins over 20. USC and 22. Pitt. Notre Dame won by a wide margin in all these games and did what they were supposed to, but you have to compensate a team for beating another highly ranked opponent. Of course, Miami’s losses against SMU and Louisville are rough, but it all circles back to that Week 1 victory. Furthermore, if you look at the stats in that game, Heisman candidate Jeremiah Love ran for just 33 yards over 10 attempts, by far his worst game to date. Miami dominated, or as Coach Saban puts it, “Miami kicked Notre Dame's ass.” 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, you could make cases for Miami or Notre Dame being in. As Rece Davis puts it, “there’s no right answer.” In the end, head to head wins is where it matters most, and the committee made a good decision taking that into account.