Clemson Football: Notre Dame has no incentive to play ACC Championship

What’s the incentive for Notre Dame to play Clemson football again?

The Clemson football team is set to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the ACC Championship game next Saturday in Charlotte.

However, a brilliant post by Rubbing the Rock Expert Jeff Benedict earlier this week got me thinking and it’s something that intrigues me, to say the least.

Jeff wrote about the fact that both Clemson football and Notre Dame should just bow out of the ACC Championship game. The Tigers- with one loss- and the Fighting Irish- undefeated- would have a competitive advantage of not playing an extra game and would both be set up nicely to be selected by the CFB Playoff committee. What a brilliant idea.

But then, it got me thinking: What’s the incentive for Notre Dame to play this game at all.

At least Clemson football thinks it has to win this one to get in, but the Fighting Irish benefit nothing from playing the game

Think about this: What if Notre Dame plays the game and loses? The Fighting Irish with one loss are likely in, but there’s still a scenario- involving a potential upset with Florida over Alabama, as well as the committee’s view on Ohio State and Texas A&M- that could very well leave Notre Dame out.

The point? If Notre Dame didn’t play this coming weekend, the chances they get into the CFB Playoff are at 100 percent. If they lose, the chances are still pretty high, but they do drop to somewhere around 95 percent or so. Why even risk it for the five percent?

Notre Dame has made it clear they don’t care about joining a conference, so what would an ACC Championship Trophy mean to them? Well, other than holding it over the rest of the conference’s head for an eternity. 

The more I think about it, the more I agree with Jeff.

At least Clemson has something to play for (in some respect) but Notre Dame really only hurts itself by playing in Charlotte.