THE CZECH IS IN THE MAIL
When referring to someone who gets upset when he or she doesn’t get their way, some might say that person “took their ball and went home.”
While that reference usually refers to people who are “spoiled” or didn’t get what they wanted, there are times when taking your ball and going home is a good thing.
Examples of that are leaving a bad relationship, a job situation or a living situation. When it comes to college football, Notre Dame has been accused of “taking their ball and going home” after turning down a bowl-game bid last week.
The Fighting Irish were seemingly upset about not earning a bid in the 12-team College Football Playoff despite garnering a 10-2 record — the same record as Oklahoma and Miami – both of which qualified for the CFP.
The University of Texas at Austin faithful can attest to that, especially after their beloved Longhorns defeated two teams that are in the CFP – Oklahoma and Texas A&M University.
Unfortunately, the Aggies have a record of 11-1 and the Sooners 10-2, while the Longhorns are 9-3.
Two of those three losses for Texas were against No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Georgia. The other was to 4-8 Florida and ultimately kept the Longhorns out of the playoffs.
However, Texas is not taking its ball and going home. The Longhorns will look to take their frustrations out on fellow 9-3 team Michigan in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl Dec. 31.
The frustrations for Notre Dame are a mixture of understandable andlaughable. The Irish were ranked No. 10 in the CFP poll going into the conference championship game weekend.
At the time, the frustrations focused on Miami – and rightfully so. The Hurricanes beat the Irish, 27-24, in the season opener for both teams and are 10-2 just like Notre Dame, yet they were ranked No. 12.
Neither Miami nor Notre Dame played in a conference championship game and were forced to wait. In the end, Miami was the No. 10 seed because of its season-opening win against Notre Dame.
Notre Dame has played an independent football schedule since its inception. Perhaps the snubbing is a sign for the Irish to join a conference for football – after all, they’re in the Atlantic Coast Conference in other sports.
I can imagine some reforms will happen within the CFP committee ranks. It needs to.
Otherwise, more teams will be taking their ball and going home.
Chlapek is the area editor of the Elgin Courier and Taylor Press. He can be reached at [email protected].
