is wrong. There have been so many discussions about the scenarios under which ND at 12-0, or even 11-1, can be included or excluded from the playoffs, but his like most -- if not all -- fail to take into account that the Playoff Committee is obligated to favor conference champions. (The Committee has the "flexibility and discretion to select a non-champion or independent under circumstances where that particular non-champion or independent is unequivocally one of the four best teams in the country." ND is probably better than team X is not good enough if team X is a conference champion.) Nor do these discussions seem to take into account that the preliminary playoff rankings, like last night's, are not influenced by conference championships because none have been determined. "[Y]ou look at the protocol, through week 10 head-to-head still matters," as Mullens says but, Mr. Farmer, conference championships don't. They will.
Given ND's failure to dominate its opponents to the point that nobody would seriously question that it is one of the four best teams in the country and given the onerous "unequivocal" burden, I see little chance a 12-0 ND is included unless: Alabama loses a game before or Alabama defeats Georgia in the SEC title game and at least one of the ACC, B12 and B10 champions has at least 2 losses. (There is so little respect for the PAC12 that even a 12-1 WSU would likely suffer the same fate as Oklahoma in 2016 when it was displaced by conference non-champion Ohio State.) If a 1 loss Georgia beats an undefeated Alabama in the SEC championship game, an undefeated ND will need 2 of the ACC, B12 and B10 champions to have at least 2 losses.
Only twice has a team that was not a conference champion been included in the playoff. Ohio State in 2016 and Alabama last year. Last year the PAC12 and B10 champions had multiple losses and Alabama's inclusion was non-controversial. In 2016 the B10 Champion, Penn State had multiple losses and Oklahoma was left out as a 11-1 B12 champion in favor of Ohio State because the B12 was viewed as weak (strength of schedule) and Ohio State looked the part (the eye test) with a pair of 60-point blowouts prior to beating Michigan State and Michigan to end the season. (The big talking point about Oklahoma's exclusion was that the B12 champion needed the 13th "data point" and the B12 subsequently added its championship game.)
The notion that a 12-0 ND is automatically in the playoffs is either ignorant of the Protocol governing the Committee or must assume the Committee will ignore its mandate. ND may be ranked 3rd in the penultimate playoff rankings after (hypothetically) beating USC to finish 12-0 and be left out of the final 4 in the final rankings after the conference championships are decided and the prejudice in favor of conference champions kicks in.