Marcus Freeman’s Notre Dame program is pulling out all the stops to position itself for a College Football Playoff push in 2026 after coming up just short in 2025. With the Irish’s 2026 schedule now released, the College Football Playoff committee seems to have given Notre Dame a promising setup.
Marcus Freeman Faces Heat After Alabama Alumni Slam Notre Dame’s Claimed Advantage
The College Football Playoff announced several adjustments to its format for the 2026 season, including keeping the field at 12 teams next year. That call was made amid ongoing disagreements between the SEC and Big Ten over potential expansion. There were multiple tweaks to the structure, and Notre Dame is now assured a playoff spot if it finishes ranked in the selection committee’s top 12.
On Wednesday’s episode of “The Dynasty” podcast, former Alabama running back Trent Richardson and former Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron weighed in on the news. They said they are fine with the CFP staying at 12 teams, but they expressed frustration that Notre Dame appears to be treated differently from the rest of college football.
“Everybody’s playing field is a different man, and they just made it different again because they don’t have a conference championship,” Richardson said. “You can’t sit up there and go play a couple of teams in the ACC and be like, ‘Hey, we should be national champion.’ Then, when you lose to the team that you’re supposed to be so-called beat so to sit there and say that I need to be in the playoff system.”
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The new Notre Dame provision was introduced after the independent program became the first team left out of the 2025 playoff, finishing No. 11 in the CFP rankings. If that rule had existed then, the Irish would have earned a spot over No. 10 Miami, which ultimately advanced to the championship game against Indiana. Both Notre Dame and Miami finished 10-2 and had comparable results against shared opponents.
This provision was also one of the factors behind USC’s decision not to reach a compromise with Notre Dame and, ultimately, to skip a game against Freeman’s squad in 2026. The Notre Dame-USC rivalry has been played annually since 1926, aside from a three-year pause during World War II and the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
McCarron also echoed Richardson’s criticism, saying that Notre Dame continues to receive special treatment.
“Everybody’s just on a different set of rules, a group of fives on a different set of rules, power fours on a different set of rules, and then now Notre Dame on a different set of rules,” McCarron said. “The fact that, because of your contract and the money you bring in from that, is the reason that you don’t want to join a conference, because you can collect all the money from it.
“You don’t have to share it with anybody. So your revenue share could be bigger, and the fact that we sign a contract is because we’re upset. We’re not going to play in a bowl game, and now all of a sudden the NCAA, the CFP, have the need to help them out and protect poor old Notre Dame, makes college football a laughingstock. I mean, it just is what it is. I hate to say it, but it’s such a mess, and I just don’t understand.”
Besides that, Notre Dame has also drawn criticism for its 2026 schedule, which includes only one team from the 2025 CFP field, a home game against Miami on Nov. 7. The Irish finished last season ranked No. 8 in the PFSN College Football Offense Impact Metric with a score of 88.5.
Playing Duke in a conference championship game would make all the difference, huh!?
So Alabama players are calling out ND for getting special treatment. Funny, isn’t that what Alabama got this year?
Former alabama players not exactly known for being smart.
Competing with Miami (lost by field goal)), Texas A&M (lost by extra point), and beating a top 20 USC team is wayyyyyy harder than winning the Big 12 or ACC.
They show their incredible lack of intelligence.
Firstly, the “playing a couple ACC teams comment”.
That is EXACTLY what Miami did this season. They played an ACC schedule. They DID NOT win the ACC. And they still made it to the national championship game.
Secondly, it is a 12 team playoff to find the best team in the country.
And they’re complaining because a top 12 team gets in??
And they’re not upset by two proverbial community colleges outside of the top 12 (who already lost both their coaches to bigger programs) getting in???