FC/OT: ND Finally Learning a Hard Lesson.
- Thread starter Midnighter
- Start date
How does not playing Notre Dame freeze one of their teams out?
The deal giving Notre Dame a playoff spot that freezes a bubble team out.
ChatGPT disagrees:
Short answer: Extremely unlikely.
Notre Dame would almost certainly have no viable legal claim against the Big Ten simply for choosing not to schedule them in football.
Below is a clear explanation of why.
1. Conferences have no legal duty to schedule Notre Dame
The Big Ten is a voluntary athletic conference. Its members and the conference office choose their own non-conference scheduling arrangements. There is no legal obligation—contractual or statutory—that requires the Big Ten to schedule Notre Dame.
To sue, Notre Dame would need to show that the Big Ten:
- Breached a contract
- Violated antitrust law
- Committed tortious interference, discrimination, or some other legal wrong
The Big Ten simply declining to schedule ND does not meet those thresholds.
2. There is no contract guaranteeing games
Notre Dame does not have an existing compulsory scheduling agreement with the Big Ten. Without a contract, there is nothing to “breach.”
Even if individual Big Ten teams once regularly scheduled Notre Dame, past practice does not create a legal obligation to continue doing so.
3. Antitrust claim? Also unlikely
Notre Dame could theoretically argue that conferences collectively refusing to schedule them is a form of group boycott, which can fall under antitrust law.
But this would require showing:
- A coordinated agreement among Big Ten schools to exclude ND
- Harm to competition, not just harm to Notre Dame
- No legitimate pro-competitive justification
Problems:
- The Big Ten choosing opponents for competitive, logistical, or strategic reasons is normally presumed lawful.
- Declining to schedule a single independent school likely does not affect the overall competitive market for college football.
- Conferences change scheduling policies frequently without legal consequences.
To win an antitrust case, Notre Dame would need evidence of collusion for the purpose of harming Notre Dame, which is extremely hard to prove.
4. Tort or discrimination claims? No real basis
There is no recognized tort for “not scheduling a team.”
Unless Notre Dame could allege illegal discrimination based on a protected class (which they cannot—this is about football), such claims would fail immediately.
5. Practical reality
Teams and conferences decide their schedules freely. Many schools refuse to schedule certain opponents for strategic, financial, travel, or competitive reasons. None of this has ever led to a successful lawsuit.
Conclusion
Notre Dame could try to sue, but the case would almost certainly be dismissed.
Without a contract, legal duty, or provable antitrust violation, the Big Ten is fully within its rights to schedule—or not schedule—any opponent it chooses.
If you want, I can also analyze:
- Possible antitrust angles in more depth
- Whether Notre Dame joining a conference would change the legal landscape
- Historical examples of scheduling disputes in college sports
Just let me know!
Don't think that ND would turn to ChatGPT for adjudication. Ask it for a deeper dive into its point 3.1.
One of my favorite moments was booing him at Big 10 trophy ceremony, 2016
Plus we didn't pass Herbie's eye test.
Anytime there is a selection committee, it is going to be subjective. Alabama being in over ND is where the complaint should be. I know their 3rd loss was in the SEC Championship Game, and it isn't supposed to be held against them, but they played awful. Play a close hard-fought game and lose is one thing, but they got clobbered.
Klatt was spot on with this. There would have been zero outcry if there was not a week to week ranking by the CFP. The mistake is allowing fans to "see the sausage made (Klatt's language) versus the end result. The end result was the correct one (save the Group of 5 teams). Notre Dame lost both the games it played against quality opponents. Its best win was against a 9 and 3 USC team. Notre Dame needs to join a conference and win it or just STFU
Correct...Washington not Ohio State was the issue. We had absolutely no chance of getting in over Ohio State.
They did but they also beat Georgia in Athens. The rematch factor is largely why they weren't penalized at all.
Now Texas Tech getting blown out twice by the same team...maybe they shouldn't have been held against them as much as it was but the fact it wasn't competitive twice is what I think hurt them.
Clemson smoked tOSU 31-0 in that playoff game. I'm not saying PSU would have won, but I believe that offense would have put up some points.
Bubble team? One of the conference teams will be shut out to make way for notre dame and their lame schedule.
This might work.
If there was some system to change which conference got the bye it would be interesting. If 7 years from now the ACC has a strong conference and the SEC has gotten weaker, but SEC still gets the bye that would give us something else to b!t<h about.
16 seeded teams and no byes.
The most anti-PSU DB of all-time. A true crook and one miserable SOB!
Yeah, our boys put up 49 and lost to a 3-loss team that Bama trounced 52-6. 2016 is the longest lasting wanna have a participation trophy complaint that exists.
Clemson and Bama were on a level above the rest of cfb that season.
If you really want to take subjectivity out of it and still have a truly competitive playoff, make division 1 consist of 40 teams (or whatever number you like) with divisions and then have an NFL style playoff.
The bottom 4 teams get relegated to division 2 and the top 4 D2 teams get promoted. You could have a D3 with the same relegation rules. D2 and D3 can have their own playoff.
The bottom 4 teams get relegated to division 2 and the top 4 D2 teams get promoted. You could have a D3 with the same relegation rules. D2 and D3 can have their own playoff.
Ill add to that...
People that follow and like them are complete a$$h0les.
Outside of people laughing at their misery, neither have any value.