Joel Klatt: Ranking Notre Dame Over Alabama and Miami Could Be 'Problematic'

If Notre Dame went head-to-head with Alabama, Oklahoma or Miami (Fla.) this weekend, FOX Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt would pick the Fighting Irish to win each of those games. In fact, he doesn't disagree with the College Football Playoff committee's notion that Notre Dame is better than at least two of those teams. 

However, Klatt also believes that the CFP committee ranking Notre Dame (No. 9) above Alabama (No. 10) and Miami (No. 12) could spell trouble for the future of college football. 

"The hard part here is [the committee is] walking themselves into a trap, and there are consequences for what they're doing," Klatt said on his podcast, "The Joel Klatt Show." "We can see that Alabama is vastly superior as it relates to résumé and three spots away is a team [Notre Dame] lost to head-to-head. By [the committee's] own admission, those teams are now in the cohort that's being evaluated against one another. That still didn't carry the day.

"That could be problematic. You can tell me this weekend you could pick Notre Dame to win the game. That's fine. But you still have to honor the games that have been played. To some extent, you have to look up and honor what the players do on the field. I get it, Miami's résumé isn't quite what Notre Dame's is and their losses aren't great. … But this is a problem. Games that get played need to be honored. I've been consistent about that."

Entering the final week of the regular season, Notre Dame, Alabama and Miami all sit at 9-2. But the Crimson Tide arguably have the strongest résumé of the three teams, holding the ninth-toughest strength of schedule in the nation, while the Fighting Irish are 34th in strength of schedule and the Hurricanes are 48th. Alabama's also