Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman responds to team's dropping in College Football Playoff rankings

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman was magnanimous toward the College Football Playoff’s selection committee Wednesday, telling NBC News he will “agree to disagree” after the Fighting Irish dropped to 10th in the latest CFP rankings.“We’re never always going to agree, especially when your program is the one that’s getting dropped after winning by 20-something points,” Freeman said.

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman was magnanimous toward the College Football Playoff’s selection committee Wednesday, telling NBC News he will “agree to disagree” after the Fighting Irish dropped to 10th in the latest CFP rankings.

“We’re never always going to agree, especially when your program is the one that’s getting dropped after winning by 20-something points,” Freeman said. Notre Dame was ranked ninth in the 12-team CFP field in each of the last three weeks before switching spots with Alabama on Tuesday.

The Fighting Irish defeated Stanford 49-20 in their final game of the season, while the Crimson Tide rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat Auburn 27-20. Depending on the outcome of this week’s conference championship games, Notre Dame is now at a higher risk of dropping out of the playoff entirely.

“There are as many Notre Dame fans that are upset, including myself, as there’s going to be Alabama fans that are happy,” Freeman said. “I don’t always understand it, personally. I’m sure [the committee] gave a legitimate reason, but that doesn’t mean we agree.”

In the ESPN show revealing the rankings Tuesday, playoff selection committee chair Hunter Yurachek said the debate between Notre Dame and Alabama was one of the group’s fiercest.