Story byBilly HeyenSun, December 7, 2025 at 5:46 PM UTC·1 min readNotre Dame's lack of a conference, independent status doomed College Football Playoff chances originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here. Notre Dame may never change. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBut this year, the Fighting Irish's lack of a conference, the fact that they're a college football independent, may have doomed their chances of making the College Football Playoff. Notre Dame ended up as the first team out of the field in the rankings announced Sunday. The Fighting Irish had been ahead of Miami for the last few weeks, despite the Hurricanes beating Notre Dame in August. Neither of them played Saturday. But with the ACC facing the prospect of getting shut out entirely, the CFP committee moved Miami ahead of Notre Dame. The ACC gets a representative. And independent Notre Dame goes to a bowl that it won't want anything to do with. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementObviously, college football benefits greatly from having Notre Dame in its showcase event, too.