Notre Dame plays at Stanford Saturday, and even with a victory it could easily find itself out of the top four in Tuesday's rankings and out of the playoff by next Sunday. Or, it could find its way in.

Nothing is certain.

View photos Brian Kelly and the Irish face a big game against Stanford. (AP) More

Well, except this: Neither outcome is proof Notre Dame "needs to join a conference," as so many of its critics like to scream.

Of course, many of these same people used to shout just a couple years ago that "Notre Dame will never be good again," because, as they liked to note, Notre Dame is "irrelevant" … so irrelevant, in fact, we like to argue incessantly about its a) irrelevancy, in part, because it b) needs to join a conference.

Obviously Notre Dame got good and relevant again once it hired a great coach, the same way it works with every program. Remember when Alabama was "irrelevant" for a decade before Nick Saban, or Michigan got relevant immediately after bringing in Jim Harbaugh?

This column isn't arguing that Notre Dame should be in the College Football Playoff. That's very debatable. It is arguing that Notre Dame's lack of conference affiliation is why it might miss the playoff is an exercise in confirmation bias – a supposed solution in search of a problem.

Let's start with one simple fact: Notre Dame isn't joining a conference.

The university cherishes its independence for reasons so myriad that books could be – and have been – written about it. Many of these are more important to Notre Dame than whether in a given a year an 11-1 team could be left out of a playoff because of the unpredictable wishes of a human committee – say one that feels an obligation not to leave out the Big 12 for a second consecutive year. And don't bring up that it could make more money in a conference. The idea that Notre Dame doesn't have enough money to be competitive is too laughable to waste time disproving.

While the current ranks of college athletics administrators are full of MBAs who would recommend slaughtering century-old traditions via panicked, knee-jerk conference realignment gambles that might yield an extra dollar no one needed, here's to Notre Dame in taking at least a slightly longer view.

There are few reasons for the reality of Notre Dame's current plight.

First off, Brian Kelly relied on the dreaded two-point conversion chart too early against Clemson. If he hadn't, two extra points would have sent the game to overtime with the Irish holding all the momentum. If they win, they are probably ranked No. 1 in the country. (Coincidentally, if TCU's Gary Patterson hadn't made the same mistake with the same two-point chart, the Horned Frogs could have kicked two extra points and beaten Oklahoma and this column isn't being written.)

Second, is the schedule fell apart on them. Annual rival Southern California is 7-4 – still ranked in the top 20 by Jeff Sagarin, but easily dismissed by a human committee. A five-game scheduling agreement with the ACC got them a date at No. 1 Clemson, but also four other opponents (Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, Virginia and Wake Forest) who are a combined 18-27.

In another year, with a different slate, that could be far more reasonable and not hurt ND as much.

Then there is Texas, which, when scheduled, was considered a major game but instead is a terrible 4-7, negating much of the benefit from a 38-3 victory. The Longhorns are particularly problematic because Notre Dame is getting minimal credit for beating a bad team, yet Oklahoma isn't being punished much (if at all) for losing to the same bad team. (In the total scope of analyzing teams this isn't necessarily wrong, but it's still an interesting twist.)

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