How Jessica Campbell’s hockey journey led to her history-making debut with the Kraken
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Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter
SEATTLE — Growing up as a small-town kid with big dreams of reaching the NHL is a story that’s been told for more than a century — about men.
Most girls never had that dream, because no woman had ever reached those heights. Part of it has to do with the fact there hasn’t been a long history. Canada and the United States created women’s national teams in 1987, while the first women’s world championships was in 1990. The Olympics eventually added a women’s tournament in 1998. There was the American Women’s College Hockey Alliance that started in 1997 that saw women’s collegiate teams compete for a national title, but the NCAA didn’t hold its first tournament until 2001.
Jessica Campbell was born in 1992 — the same year Manon Rheaume made history playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning in an exhibition game.
“I imagined and dreamed of playing in the NHL because there was no professional women’s league as a young girl and I thought I was going to play in the NHL because I was playing with the boys,” Campbell said. “Little did I know what wasn’t possible. But I believed it was possible.”
More than three months have passed since the Seattle Kraken hired Campbell as an assistant coach, and she became the first woman in NHL history to be behind the bench on opening night, Oct. 8. The move came two years after the Kraken’s AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, hired Campbell as an assistant coach. She was also the first woman behind the bench in that league’s history.
Her success has fueled her ascension. Under former Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Bylsma, Campbell helped the Firebirds reach consecutive Calder Cup finals in their first two seasons of existence, coaching the forwards and running the power play. The Firebirds were third in goals in Campbell’s first season, and led the league in 2023-24.
This was a contrast to what the Kraken had experienced. A playoff appearance in their second season was sandwiched between two campaigns in which a lack of goals became a frequent topic of conversation: The team finished in the bottom four in goals per game in both.
It led to Kraken general manager Ron Francis firing head coach Dave Hakstol and assistant Paul McFarland. The Kraken front office saw what Bylsma and his staff were doing in the AHL and believed they could translate that success and the culture that came with it at the NHL level.
The Kraken’s front office already knew Campbell’s philosophies resonated with veterans and rookies alike. They now believe her teachings can help their roster overcome those offensive deficiencies — and get back into the postseason mix.
Thinking about everything on her plate has the potential to be overwhelming. These are the moments when Campbell stares at a specific tattoo on her right hand.
Finely etched in dark blue ink, the cursive script tattoo that’s 2 inches in length on Campbell’s right hand is subtle while simultaneously commanding attention.
The word is ytimessä. It’s Finnish in origin. When translated into English, it means to be at the heart of something, and Campbell interprets it as achieving what she calls “a flow state,” with the reminder that reaching that destination comes with stops along the way.
Campbell looks at this tattoo daily. It allows her to remember where she’s been, how she’s arrived and where she wants to be in the future.
“It keeps me grounded in who I want to be as a coach, and how I want to show up every day,” Campbell said.
From her beginnings in coaching, to multiple stops in Europe, and back to North America to become the first of what she hopes is more NHL coaches who are women.
There is no precedent for Campbell, because she herself is the precedent.
“When you look at the history of our game and the number of years the NHL has been around, this is awesome,” said Sheldon Kennedy, who worked with Campbell and played eight seasons in the NHL. “I’m not worried about the X’s and the O’s and the game. To me, it’s more about the principle and that she didn’t fluke her way in there. She worked her butt off to get in there. She committed and did what she needed to do, and that’s what’s exciting for me.”
MANY WHO HAVE WORKED with Campbell will immediately and frequently reference how much she cares. She cares about her players, the team and about doing right by everyone.
That’s what stood out to three-time Stanley Cup champion Brent Seabrook.
“I’ve had a lot of great coaches that cared,” said Seabrook, who played his entire 15-year career with the Chicago Blackhawks. “They cared about me as a person and us as a team. I think Jess has those qualities. She cares about her players getting better on an individual basis and her team getting better on a group basis.”
Campbell is all about learning. It’s why she learned from the coaches who supported her and the ones who didn’t throughout her time playing at Cornell, the now-defunct Calgary Inferno, the Canadian women’s national team and the Malmö Redhawks in Sweden.
As a player, Campbell concentrated on improving her weaknesses rather than her strengths. She’d heard how focusing on weaknesses was bizarre from a development standpoint. But she saw it differently in that chipping away those trouble areas would eventually make her an even more complete player.
Toward the end of her career, she worked with a sports psychologist who asked Campbell what she does best, who she is at her best and what makes her special as a player.
Skating was her answer, while admitting that she spent her offseasons working on every aspect of her game but her skating.
“He said, ‘Let me be the first to tell you that if you forget about what makes you special, you’ll get away from being who you are,'” Campbell said. “In this game and in this industry there’s so many special players and talented players, the way you separate yourself is by being more of who you are and expanding of who you are and bringing that to a team.
“That was such a big moment for me and as a coach, I think about that all the time.”
That’s why Campbell asks every player what they do best, who they are at their best and what makes them special, while finding ways to elevate different aspects of their game to be the most complete player possible.
MOVING TO KELOWNA in 2017, she was an assistant coach at what is now known as RINK Academy while also starting her own business as a power skating and skill development coach. Her goal was to eventually have NHL clients.
Campbell began building her client base starting with Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Damon Severson. They grew up together in Melville, Saskatchewan, a town of around 5,000 people.
Severson, like many active and retired NHL players, has a place in the Okanagan Valley where Campbell was coaching. As buildings began to gradually reopen during the COVID pandemic, Severson reached out to Campbell to see if she could train him.
Campbell agreed — only for Severson to ask if he could bring a friend. That friend was Los Angeles Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson.
Pretty soon, Campbell went from working with just Edmundson and Severson to a group of 20 NHL players who were looking to regain their sharpness before entering either the Edmonton or Toronto bubbles of the 2020 playoffs. The list included Mathew Barzal, Dante Fabbro, Tyson Jost, Brayden and Luke Schenn as well as Edmundson, Severson and Seabrook.
“Luke said to me I think at the very first skate, ‘Do you come up with your own drills? I’ve never gotten these drills and these are awesome,'” Campbell recalled. “I was like, ‘Yeah, they’re all my own drills,’ and I remember the look on his face when he first said that to me. It gave me so much confidence because he was into what I was putting out there.”
Those skates are what led to Seabrook asking Campbell if they could have private sessions as he was recovering from surgeries on both hips and a right shoulder procedure.
“She never let us get away with anything,” Seabrook said. “Even when she was skating with the guys, she was harping on the details and the little things. As a player, I’m always really big into those details. … She was tough on me and the big thing was knee bend and getting down. That is something I had to work on at the gym to get stronger after surgery and then incorporate that on the ice with skating.”
THE NEXT STEP in her ascension didn’t go as smoothly.
Campbell had lived in Kelowna for a few years before she went to Europe and played one last season for Malmö in 2019-20 following a two-year hiatus.
After she retired from playing, becoming a skating and skills coach looked like the next step for Campbell. She had a successful collegiate and pro career that led to her playing for Canada internationally. Not only did she coach at the academy level, but had started a business that allowed her to run skates with NHL players. Plus, her time playing in Europe meant she built relationships with coaches on another continent.
“So I actually asked a few people in North America, ‘Do you think I should pursue [trying to coach] in Sweden?'” Campbell recalled. “I basically got told, ‘Don’t do that. Don’t quit your day job to move. There are many skating coaches and phenomenal skills coaches that are in Sweden specifically. That’s where some of the best coaches come from.’
“I’m like, ‘OK, so you’re telling me you know I’m going to fail?'”
Campbell said what she was told and how she heard it felt like two separate things. It didn’t necessarily make her want to prove people wrong, as much as she wanted to prove to herself that she could become a coach in Europe.
Campbell marketed herself to multiple teams. What set her apart from other coaches was the fact she could bring teachings from North America. There were coaches who heard her elevator pitch and liked what she presented.
“They said, ‘I think what you’re doing is awesome. Your material looks great,'” Campbell said. “These were agents, these were other skills coaches and great people. They said, ‘I hate to say this, but our team would never hire a female. It wouldn’t happen.’ I heard that along the way.
“I guess I just chose to not listen to it. I knew the only way I would get to this level is to do it on my own.”
Campbell’s mission was to focus on the testimonials she received from players rather than dialogue about why she wouldn’t receive an opportunity.
2:53
Jessica Campbell explains her path to making NHL history
Jessica Campbell joins “SportsCenter” to discuss her journey to becoming the first woman assistant coach in the NHL.
Her first job came in 2020-21 when her old club, Malmö, hired her as a skills coach for the men’s team. A year later, she joined the Nürnberg Ice Tigers in Germany.
She initially joined the Ice Tigers as a skills coach, but the team was struggling with its special teams and wanted another perspective. Her suggestions worked, and it led to the Ice Tigers hiring Campbell as an assistant coach for the remainder of the season. Her work played a part in the Ice Tigers reaching the qualifying round of the playoffs.
“It was my ‘aha!’ moment as a coach where I saw what I was doing and the way I was communicating as a fit,” Campbell said. “The guys were going out and capable of making the changes and the tweaks that I was asking them to do.”
Her work with the Ice Tigers also opened a door for Campbell to join the German men’s national team as an assistant coach during the 2022 IIHF men’s world championships. Coaching at the men’s world championships was historic, in that Campbell became the first woman to ever be behind the bench at the tournament.
Being with Germany was foundational because of head coach Toni Söderholm.
Söderholm, who is Finnish, is the person Campbell fondly refers to as “my green light” because he gave her the confidence to fully embrace her coaching role. That was also the job that opened the door for Campbell to join the Firebirds a few months later.
Söderholm worked to create a culture within the national team and there was a word that embodied what he and his staff sought to achieve.
The word was ytimessä.
FACED WITH A DECISION before her historic first NHL game as a Kraken assistant coach, Campbell asked her best friend and former teammate, Brooklyn Langlois, for some advice:
What should she wear?
“I turned to her and asked, ‘Which one should I go with?'” Campbell recalled. “She says, ‘White. That’s the only color a man wouldn’t wear.’ That’s how I ultimately chose the white suit. The blazer that I bought was called, ‘the standout blazer,’ so it all felt perfect.”
Her experience with the German national team at the men’s worlds speaks to why wearing a white suit has so much meaning.
The German Hockey Federation wanted everyone from the equipment managers to the coaching staff to match. From shoes to sweaters down to having their same lapel pin placements.
“It was very traditional and it was a great look, but they also wanted the men wearing ties and I could wear a scarf,” Campbell said. “Ultimately, it kind of looked like I was a flight attendant which is not what I pictured for myself. We laugh about it now because it definitely didn’t reflect my natural fashion style, but I was willing to fill water bottles in that scarf if I had to in order to be part of that team.”
Campbell said she didn’t feel the need to say anything at the time because she wanted to fit in with the team. But it was a different situation with her new club.
0:55
Jessica Campbell reflects on historic night
Kraken assistant coach Jessica Campbell reflects on being the first full-time female assistant coach in NHL history.
Campbell said being on the bench and working with the team felt like any day at work. Or, it did at first.
When she looked into the Climate Pledge Arena stands, specifically during the introductions, that’s when Campbell realized that this was unlike any day of work she or any woman in the history of hockey ever had.
“My family was there. My best friends who are from all over Canada and the U.S. were there and with everybody coming together, it felt like my hockey wedding day in a way,” Campbell said. “Just the energy and the excitement, but that’s what really brought the magnitude of the moment to me.”
Although they work in front of the whole world, being an NHL assistant coach is not a public-facing role. Unlike a head coach, they typically don’t address the media after every game, morning skate and practice. They’ll receive some of the credit when the team wins, while receiving some of the blame when a team loses, while the head coach takes the brunt.
That’s what made opening night different. Those pregame introductions allow assistant coaches — albeit only for seconds — to be in a literal spotlight. Campbell was the first of the Kraken’s assistant coaches to be introduced, and the only person on the staff who received a stronger ovation from the crowd was Bylsma.
“That really hit me in that moment with what was happening, what I’m part of and I just know that I’m part of something so much bigger than just me,” Campbell said. “There were moments throughout the day where I was reminded of that.
“When I got to the arena, just the reception from those around you and seeing the emotions from other people is what really reminds me of what this means to the industry and to the community and to the people. … I’m taking pride knowing that I have to carry this torch for others.”
Miami is inching closer but still needs some help.
With the Hurricanes creeping up to No. 12 on Tuesday night in the College Football Playoff selection committee’s fourth of six rankings, the ACC’s hope of having two teams qualify for the 12-team field is still alive. Time is running out, though, to convince the selection committee they’re better than Notre Dame — and right now a gap remains in spite of the head-to-head win. The ACC champion — even if it’s No. 18 Virginia — is almost certainly guaranteed a spot as one of the five-highest ranked conference champions. That’s evidenced by the fact that five ACC teams are still ranked above No. 24 Tulane, the only representative from a Group of 5 conference. The question is whether Miami can do enough to join the ACC champion as an at-large team with one game remaining, on Saturday at No. 22 Pitt.
Though the Canes have no margin for error and could still use some help above them, they might get it if Ole Miss doesn’t win the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State. No. 6 Oregon jumped one spot above No. 7 Ole Miss, indicating that the Rebels might not recover from a second stumble.
With Rivalry Week on the horizon, there are still plenty of scenarios that can unfold — and hope is still oozing from the bubble.
Bubble Watch accounts for what we have learned from the committee so far — and historical knowledge of what it means for teams clinging to hope. Teams with Would be in status below are in this week’s bracket based on the committee’s fourth ranking. For each Power 4 conference, we’ve also listed Last team in and First team out. These are the true bubble teams hovering around inclusion. Teams labeled Still in the mix haven’t been eliminated but have work to do or need help. A team that is Out will have to wait until next year.
The conferences below are listed in order of the number of bids they would receive, ranked from the most to least, based on the committee’s fourth ranking.
Jump to a conference:
ACC | Big 12 | Big Ten
SEC | Independent | Group of 5
Bracket
SEC
Would be in: Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas A&M
Last team in: Alabama. The Tide can either lock up a spot in the SEC championship game with a win against Auburn in the Iron Bowl — or can miss the playoff entirely with a loss to its rival. The debate will come if Alabama finishes as a three-loss SEC runner-up. The Tide have played the ninth-hardest schedule in the country, according to ESPN Analytics, and their résumé would only be enhanced by facing a top-five opponent in the SEC championship game. A third loss, though, even in a close game to a top-five team, could drop Alabama into a dangerous spot in the top 12 where it might face elimination to make room for a guaranteed conference champion — or a second Big 12 team.
First team out: Vanderbilt. The Commodores could stay status quo this week, which means at No. 14 they remain a long shot for an at-large bid. Punctuating their résumé with a win against a ranked Tennessee would be the first step, but they’d also need multiple upsets ahead of them to get serious consideration. It’s conceivable, as Miami can lose at Pitt, Oklahoma can suffer a third loss to LSU, and Alabama can lose the Iron Bowl. None of that would matter, though, without a win in Knoxville.
Still in the mix: None.
Out: Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas
Big Ten
Would be in: Indiana, Ohio State, Oregon
Last team in: Oregon. With the win against USC, Oregon eliminated the biggest threat to its playoff spot in the Big Ten and further solidified its place in the top 10. The win against USC boosted the Ducks’ résumé enough to jump Ole Miss, and the complete performance against another ranked contender answered some questions in the committee meeting room. Oregon now has a 16.5% chance to reach the Big Ten title game, according to ESPN Analytics, but it must beat Washington and it needs Michigan to defeat Ohio State.
First team out: Michigan. The No. 15 Wolverines are here because they can reach the Big Ten championship game with a win against Ohio State and a loss by Indiana or Oregon. Michigan no longer has to worry about the head-to-head defeat to USC because the Trojans have three losses and dropped behind the Wolverines to No. 17 in the latest ranking. The loss to No. 8 Oklahoma, though, will probably keep them behind the Sooners for an at-large bid if they both finish with the same record. Nobody in the country, though, will have a better win than Michigan if it beats the Buckeyes for a fifth straight season.
Still in the mix: None.
Out: Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, Washington, Wisconsin
Big 12
Would be in: Texas Tech
Last team in: Texas Tech. The Red Raiders can clinch a spot in the Big 12 title game with a win at West Virginia. As long as Texas Tech does that, it should be a lock for the CFP — win or lose in the Big 12 championship. It would be both stunning and difficult for the committee to justify dropping Texas Tech if its second loss is to a top-11 BYU team that it beat handily during the regular season. The Red Raiders would be the only team that could claim a regular-season win over the eventual Big 12 champs in that scenario.
First team out: BYU. The Cougars can clinch a spot in the Big 12 title game with a home win against UCF on Saturday. They’d be a CFP lock with the Big 12 title, but a loss would likely knock them out of the bracket because they’re already in a precarious position and would have lost to the same team twice. They would need multiple upsets to happen above them to stay in consideration as the two-loss Big 12 runner-up.
Still in the mix: Arizona State, Utah. ASU can earn a spot in the Big 12 title game with a win against Arizona and a BYU loss or a win and losses by both Texas Tech and Utah. The Utes will reach the Big 12 title game if they beat Kansas and both BYU and Arizona State win and Texas Tech loses.
Out: Arizona, Baylor, Cincinnati, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, UCF, West Virginia
ACC
Would be in: Miami
Last team in: Miami. Miami’s chances of reaching the ACC title game are now 14.2% — third best in the league behind SMU and Virginia, which are both above 80%. That means their best chance to reach the CFP remains through an at-large bid. They must win at Pitt on Saturday, and it helped that the committee ranked the Panthers No. 22 on Tuesday night. Miami’s loss to SMU no longer looks as bad as it initially did after the Mustangs cracked the CFP top 25 at No. 21. Miami is getting some help, but it has also helped itself by winning three straight games by at least 17 points. Saturday at Virginia Tech brought Miami’s first road win outside of its home state, which is something the committee has been awaiting. Miami’s win against Notre Dame remains one of the best in the country, and the Canes are within range of the committee revisiting the head-to-head tiebreaker. They’re both in the same conversation as Alabama and BYU. If Miami can win at Pitt, the committee will certainly factor that into its discussion during the fifth ranking. It’s important to remember, though, that head-to-head isn’t the only factor in the room. The entire body of work is considered, and right now, the committee is more impressed by the Irish.
First team out: Virginia. Of all the convoluted scenarios still left in the ACC, this isn’t one of them: If Virginia beats rival Virginia Tech on Saturday, the Cavaliers will clinch a spot in the conference title game. And with No. 21 SMU now one of five ranked teams from the conference, the ACC title game is likely to feature two ranked opponents. The Mustangs have the best chance to reach the ACC championship game (86%) followed by Virginia (81%) after Week 13, but SMU lost to Baylor, TCU and Wake Forest — the latter two of which are above .500. If SMU wins at Cal on Saturday, the Mustangs will clinch a spot in the ACC title game. Virginia was the committee’s second-highest-ranked ACC team behind Miami in its fourth ranking, and the Cavaliers had a bye.
Still in the mix: Duke, Georgia Tech, Pitt, SMU. Here’s where you can find your convoluted scenarios. Pitt can get into the ACC championship game with a win and a loss by SMU or UVA. Duke can get in with a win plus losses by two of the following three teams: Pitt, SMU and Virginia. Georgia Tech needs so many things to happen it might want to find a church instead of playing Georgia.
Out: Boston College, Cal, Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina, NC State, Stanford, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Independent
Would be in: Notre Dame. The Irish are doing everything right — they’re winning and looking good doing it. If they can seal the deal with what should be a relatively easy win against Stanford, Notre Dame will be in the familiar position of waiting and watching while the conference championship games unfold and possibly alter the picture. Notre Dame fans should be keeping a close eye on the SEC and Big 12 title games. If Miami beats Pitt, the committee will compare that common opponent with Notre Dame, which also beat Pitt. They would continue to talk about the head-to-head tiebreaker, but that’s not the final determinant. Both Miami and Notre Dame can earn at-large bids, but if there are two Big 12 teams in, someone currently in the top 10 will have to be excluded.
Group of 5
Would be in: Tulane. This is where the committee will probably continue to differ from the computers, which say James Madison (57%) and North Texas (54.4%) have the best chances to reach the playoff. JMU’s schedule is currently ranked No. 123, while North Texas is No. 127, and that has held both of them back in the committee meeting room. Tulane is No. 73 with wins against Duke and Northwestern. The No. 24-ranked Green Wave maintained their spot this week as the committee’s highest-ranked Group of 5 team following the 37-13 win at Temple, their largest margin of victory this season.
Still in the mix: East Carolina, James Madison, Navy, North Texas, South Florida. JMU has clinched the East Division and a spot in the Sun Belt Conference championship game. It will face the winner of Southern Miss vs. Troy. Five teams from the American are still eligible to play in the conference title game, and multiple tiebreaker scenarios are still looming. Tulane has one of the most direct paths. It would clinch with a win if it is the highest-ranked team from the American in the CFP ranking. North Texas would clinch a spot with a win — because Navy was not ahead of Tulane and North Texas in the CFP ranking Tuesday. Navy could clinch a spot with a win and a loss by Tulane or North Texas.
Bracket
Based on the committee’s fourth ranking, the seeding would be:
First-round byes
No. 1 Ohio State (Big Ten champ)
No. 2 Indiana
No. 3 Texas A&M (SEC champ)
No. 4 Georgia
First-round games
On campus, Dec. 19 and 20
No. 12 Tulane (American champ) at No. 5 Texas Tech (Big 12 champ)
No. 11 Miami (ACC champ) at No. 6 Oregon
No. 10 Alabama at No. 7 Ole Miss
No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 8 Oklahoma
Quarterfinal games
At the Goodyear Cotton Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl Presented by Prudential and Allstate Sugar Bowl on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.
No. 12 Tulane/No. 5 Texas Tech winner vs. No. 4 Georgia
No. 11 Miami/No. 6 Oregon winner vs. No. 3 Texas A&M
No. 10 Alabama/No. 7 Ole Miss winner vs. No. 2 Indiana
No. 9 Notre Dame/No. 8 Oklahoma winner vs. No. 1 Ohio State
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David Hale
We don’t talk nearly enough about luck in sports.
It’s only reasonable to want to believe the best team always wins, that the outcome of a game is the reward for a better process, that, in the end, we all get what we deserve.
But then you watch 10 minutes of Florida State football and it’s impossible to deny that there are football gods at work and they can be awfully vengeful.
And so it is that, at this late point in the season, the College Football Playoff rankings still hinge, in no small part, on a botched extra point at the end of Notre Dame-Texas A&M.
We can look back at Miami‘s game against SMU on Nov. 1 — a game that, with 2 minutes to go the Canes had a 90% chance of winning, according to ESPN’s metrics — and consider it a bad loss, then a week later, see Oregon — with less than a 40% chance of beating Iowa with 2 minutes remaining — pull off a comeback and have it constitute a critical point on the Ducks’ résumé.
Alabama nearly doubled Oklahoma‘s yardage but lost, Ole Miss gave up 526 yards to Arkansas and won, Georgia has trailed in the second half five times this year but has just one loss to show for it.
These things happen, and while there’s clearly valuable data involved — Georgia wins those games, because the Dawgs are really good — any time we’re discussing a one-game sample size, there’s room for ample debate over what matters and what doesn’t.
The committee’s job is to counterbalance the fickleness of luck with a calculated, rational, repeatable process of evaluation that, if applied again and again by dozens of different people, would largely yield the same results; something akin to scientific testing, a way to filter out the noise and get to what matters most. “The process,” as everyone from Nick Saban to Michael Lombardi have called it.
And yet, it’s hard to say exactly what the committee’s process really is. Even when it’s explained — Miami isn’t in the same bucket as Notre Dame, so they can’t be compared directly, for example — the logic often crumbles under the slightest bit of scrutiny.
Instead, the committee has mostly relied on its own luck, and each year, by the time the final rankings are revealed, the 13 games played on the field provide enough clarity that most reasonable people will proclaim the committee got things right, save for the occasional reminder to Florida State that, yes, the football gods are not Seminoles fans.
This year though, it’s increasingly likely the committee’s luck could run out.
We have one full weekend of games left. There are reasonably 16 teams who’ll make a case as to why they should earn one of the seven coveted at-large spots. Without a little luck in Week 14, the committee’s going to have some incredibly hard choices to make.
And that means we’ve got plenty of outrage left to send the committee’s way.
This past week seemed to be the apex of the biggest rankings debate: Notre Dame or Miami?
The argument here is easy to understand. The committee has consistently had the Irish well ahead of the Hurricanes, despite both teams having the same record and Miami holding a head-to-head win.
But you know what’s even easier to understand? BYU has a better record than both.
In fact, let’s look at some résumés.
Team A: Best win vs. SP+ No. 19, next best vs. No. 21. Loss to SP+ No. 2. Two wins vs. teams 7-4 or better. No. 5 strength of record.
Team B: Best win vs. SP+ No. 9, next best vs. No. 25. Loss to SP+ No. 3. Six wins vs. teams 7-4 or better. No. 6 strength of record.
Both look like pretty obvious playoff teams, right?
Well Team A just moved up a spot in the rankings, seems assured not just of making the playoff, but of hosting a home game, and no one seems to be arguing about its spot in the rankings. That’s Oregon at No. 6.
Team B would currently be our first team out, a team with a résumé that shows equally impressive wins, an equally understandable loss and a far more impressive breadth of quality opponents. And yet, no one seems to be arguing much about BYU’s spot in the rankings either.
Why is it that the Cougars — the forgotten one-loss team with a higher ranked win than Oregon or Notre Dame and a better loss than Alabama or Oklahoma — sit at No. 11 and no one seems to care?
We get the frustration over Miami’s placement. There’s plenty of anger to go around. But don’t let BYU get lost in the shuffle. The Cougars’ résumé holds up against all the two-loss teams and is on par with Oregon and Ole Miss. Somehow, the committee — and nearly everyone else outside of Provo — seems to be ignoring it.
Wait, are we really defending Notre Dame here? Hey, somebody’s got to do it.
Let’s take a closer look at the Irish, who’ve become the punching bag for every fan frustrated with the committee’s rankings.
Right now, Notre Dame is effectively the golfer who wrapped up his round early and is waiting in the clubhouse, hoping no one else makes too many birdies. The Irish are safely in the field, and only a road trip to lowly Stanford is left on the docket.
But as the committee’s rankings hold steady week after week, there has been more and more time to debate the merits of Notre Dame’s résumé, and when we reach the end of championship week, it’s hard to ignore that one team aiming for a playoff bid doesn’t actually play in a conference.
So, does Notre Dame really deserve the benefit of the doubt?
In short: Heck yeah.
The Irish have five wins against bowl-eligible opponents — more than Georgia, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt or Texas Tech.
Both of Notre Dame’s losses were one-possession affairs against top-12 opponents. The loss to Texas A&M came down to a fluke occurrence, as the Irish flubbed a point after try.
Notre Dame’s game control — about as good an estimation as we have for the eye test — puts the Irish ahead of everyone but Ohio State, Indiana, Texas Tech and Oregon.
In four games since Nov. 1, Notre Dame has beaten its opposition by a combined score of 181-42, lambasting Syracuse so badly in Week 13 that Fran Brown might not shower for a month.
Look at any of the underlying metrics — explosive play rates, defensive stop rates, Jeremiyah Love being awesome rates — and Notre Dame is as good as anyone in the country.
So yes, we get the more logical debates about Miami’s Week 1 win or Alabama’s superior schedule, but the bottom line is, outside of Ohio State, there’s probably no team in the country playing better, more balanced football than the Irish. That probably shouldn’t be the only consideration, but as we debate which teams ought to be docked a few points in the rankings, Notre Dame probably shouldn’t be at the front of the line either.
Yes, Miami has a good argument against the committee’s treatment of the Hurricanes. The committee, too, seems to acknowledge under-appreciating Miami early on, and is adjusting by slowly moving the Canes up one spot each week, hoping that’ll be enough to appease the masses.
But here’s a question: What if Miami’s real beef should be with the ACC, not with the committee?
For each of the past two years, there has been widespread consensus that the ACC’s best team is Miami. But, barring some truly high-level chaos in Week 14 — something the ACC is apt to provide — the Canes won’t be playing for a conference championship again.
When leagues were smaller and had two divisions, the idea of pitting one division champ against the other made intuitive sense. But with expansion and the end of division play, what we’ve gotten is wildly diverse scheduling and the potential for confounding tiebreakers to ultimately decide which two teams get to play for a conference title.
In the Big Ten and SEC, where winning the league isn’t a do-or-die proposition, that’s fine. In the ACC, where only the champion might get a playoff bid and there’s a real chance that six different teams will tie atop the conference with a 6-2 league record — well, that’s a big issue.
So, why not just tweak the rules of how a conference championship game is seeded? What if one spot goes to the team with the best conference record and the other spot goes to the next highest ranked team? Doing so would ensure both the most deserving team (best record) and best team (highest ranked) got a shot, and it would’ve ended any concerns about the ACC being passed by multiple Group of 5 leagues, because a mediocre team like Duke would’ve had no shot at winning the league.
The ACC has bent over backward to try to find unique solutions to potentially existential problems in recent years. This is a change that would be forward thinking, easy and beneficial to the league’s playoff prospects.
It just won’t come in time to save Miami in 2025.
Remember last week when Tulane was also No. 24, just ahead of Arizona State, and behind Illinois, Houston and Missouri, who all lost? It might seem reasonable, given that precondition, that Tulane would then move up, say, three spots or so, while remaining a tick ahead of Arizona State.
But no, a week later, the Green Wave still check in at No. 24, a spot the committee seems to have set aside as “Where we put a Group of 5 team,” like the junk drawer in your kitchen that holds packing tape and birthday candles and those weird scented oils your mother-in-law ordered for you off TV — a placeholder for all the stuff you don’t know what else to do with.
In the big picture, it probably doesn’t matter. As long as Tulane stays ahead of its compatriots in the Group of 5 — winning the American, out-ranking James Madison — the Green Wave will make the playoff. And perhaps that’s all that matters.
But of the teams that jumped Tulane in the rankings this week are Arizona State — still with a chance to win the Big 12 — and Pitt and SMU, who have decent odds of making the ACC title game. Georgia Tech, despite a miserable loss to Pitt, also held firm ahead of the Green Wave.
A year ago, the ACC’s championship game implosion earned Clemson a bid into the playoff, but also shifted the ACC behind Boise State, the best Group of 5 champion, allowing the Broncos to land a bye. The stakes have changed for 2025-26 — the top four conference champs are no longer guaranteed an off week — but that doesn’t mean Tulane should be fine settling for the 12-seed either.
Tulane’s strength of record is ahead of Georgia Tech, Virginia and Pitt. If one of those teams claims the ACC’s playoff berth, what’s the rationale for putting them ahead of the Green Wave? And the difference between the No. 11 seed and the No. 12 seed might be about traveling to the SEC or the Big 12 for a playoff game.
The Group of 5 has largely been set to the side by this committee all year, so none of this comes as a surprise. But Tulane — or JMU or Navy or North Texas or San Diego State — all deserve to be judged on the merits of their résumés, not by which conference they’re affiliated with.
The bottom of the top 25 seems to be prime real estate for the ACC, but the one ACC team who might most deserve one of those coveted spots between 20 and 25 is nowhere to be found.
Wake Forest has the same record as SMU, and it beat the Mustangs head-to-head.
Wake Forest has a better overall résumé than Georgia Tech, and it only lost to the Yellow Jackets (in overtime) as a result of an officiating call the ACC later apologized for.
Wake Forest is a game behind Virginia in the standings, and the Deacons have a head-to-head win over the No. 18 Cavaliers, too.
Look, Wake Forest doesn’t ask for much. The Deacons are like the friend who’s always willing to pick you up from the airport, only better because they’ll probably bring along a box of Krispy Kreme. So if some ACC team that no one respects is going to be ranked 23rd regardless, why not Wake? Because the next time a committee member’s connection gets delayed out of CLT, it won’t be Pitt offering to pick them up and give them an air mattress to crash on. That’s strictly a Wake Forest thing.
Also angry this week: James Madison Dukes (10-1, unranked), North Texas Mean Green (10-1, unranked and now losing their coach), Navy Midshipmen (8-2, unranked), Utah Utes (9-2, No. 13 after being this week’s team that somehow isn’t as good as Miami anymore), Alabama Crimson Tide (9-2, No. 10 and far too close to the edge of the playoff for comfort)
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