Study shows nation split on Notre Dame playoff snub

Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

Did Notre Dame get screwed? The country is almost split down the middle on this topic.

The map below, courtesy of BetOnline.ag, is based on geotagged X data in the last 36 hours, tracking tweets, hashtags, and direct keyword phrases about whether or not Notre Dame should have made the College Football Playoff.

For example, “Notre Dame deserved to get in,” “Notre Dame should have been in,” “Notre Dame got screwed,” “Notre Dame should have made the playoff,” “Notre Dame is a playoff team,” “Notre Dame should have been in over Alabama,” etc. versus “Notre Dame didn’t deserve to make the playoff,” “Notre Dame didn’t deserve it,” “Notre Dame didn’t have any quality wins,” “Notre Dame’s schedule was too easy,” “Notre Dame is overrated,” “Notre Dame got what it deserved,” “Notre Dame should have joined a conference,” etc. Over 110,000 tweets were tracked.

As you can see from the map, this is a polarizing discussion for college sports fans. Many fans seem to hold the opinion that while they can see the argument being made for why Miami made it over the Irish, they can’t understand why Alabama was not penalized for getting blown out in the SEC Championship game, while BYU was punished for losing their conference championship.

In addition, many fans believe there is a slight conspiracy going on… in that the committee didn’t want the ACC shut out of the playoffs (because Duke beat Virginia).

Arguments on the other side, say that Notre Dame lost their only two big games, and that they are rightly being punished for not joining a conference, especially when they are in the ACC for other college sports

Here’s the breakdown:

Did Notre Dame deserve a playoff spot?

Yes – 24 states (Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, NH, NJ, NY, NC, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, RI, Texas, Vermont, Virginia)

No – 26 states (Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, NM, ND, Oklahoma, SC, SD, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, WV, Wisconsin, Wyoming)
Utah was the state that was the most against Notre Dame making the playoff. And aside from Indiana, Massachusetts was the state that thought Notre Dame was deserving. I don’t know, maybe it’s all the Irish Catholics in Boston!