over Tulane and JMU when they are 1 of 11 owners of the private organization that runs the FBS Playoffs. FWIW the ownership group is the 10 FBS conferences + Notre Dame. All 11 owners voted unanimously voted on the rule that the Top 5 conference champions, regardless whether they are P or G, would received an automatic bid to the FBS Playoffs. So Notre Dame has known from the start it was always competing for 1 of 7 at-large bids. It may have even known just how much ESPN had its hands in the cookie jar in terms of manipulating things behind the scenes. So how can Notre Dame suddenly say it "deserves" to be in over a conference champion when its president and/or AD agreed to the rule in the first place?