'You didn't see a great explanation': Marcus Freeman reveals thoughts on Notre Dame dropping to No. 10 in CFP rankings

Marcus Freeman smiled and looked down when a reporter started his question with, “The College Football [Playoff] rankings came out last night.” He tends to do that when the answer he’s about to give is more respectful and professional than he actually feels.

Like most Notre Dame fans, he couldn’t believe the Irish dropped to No. 10, switching places with No. 9 Alabama.

“Obviously, you’re disappointed,” Freeman said. “But more so because, a little bit of confusion.”

Until Wednesday, when asked about the College Football Playoff rankings, Freeman would typically give some version of, “We don’t worry about an uncertain future.” But after Notre Dame defeated Stanford 49-20 on Saturday night, there’s nothing left to do but worry about an uncertain future. And that future got a whole lot more uncertain after Tuesday night’s rankings reveal, which placed the Irish as the last team in the 12-team field and made them significantly more vulnerable to being left out.

The swap left Freeman asking one question: Why?

“You’re confused, in terms of what we could have done differently and why we fell when we won 49-20,” Freeman said. “We were up 42-6 going into the fourth quarter. I don’t spend time talking about other teams, but it’s just like, ‘What could we have done differently?’ I don’t know.”

CFP Selection Committee chair Hunter Yurachek had his own explanation. Essentially, Alabama’s 27-20 win road win over Auburn — a team that finished 5-7 — was impressive enough for some committee members to change their minds on the Irish and Crimson Tide. The former had been ahead of the latter since Alabama lost to Oklahoma at home in Week 12, but according to Yurachek, it was a fierce debate between the two.

Freeman, though, isn’t buying it.

“You always look for cause and effect,” Freeman said. “You look for a reason why you go up or you fall. For me, you didn’t see a great explanation for why we fell when we had the performance we did last Saturday.

“And so, [I’m] disappointed that we fell, just because I don’t necessarily agree with it. Because I think our guys did a good enough job versus Stanford to warrant not falling in the rankings. I don’t know if a team did something that much better to jump us. I don’t know. It’s for the committee to address.”

With Notre Dame sitting at No. 10, Freeman and company can only wait, hope and pray that A. No. 11 BYU does not beat No. 4 Texas Tech in the Big 12 title game and B. The committee does not change its mind again, this time regarding the Irish and No. 12 Miami — who, of course, still has that head-to-head win.

The CFP Selection Committee will reveal its final rankings and the full 12-team playoff field at noon ET on Sunday.