“Don’t think Notre dame has earned the right”: Former Heisman winner Cam Newton stands by his hot take about Marcus Freeman & Co.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have made the National Championship game. Marcus Freeman's program defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl 27-24 to secure their place in the title game, where they will face the Ohio State Buckeyes.

However, not everyone thinks that Notre Dame deserves their spot in this game. One of those naysayers is former NFL quarterback Cam Newton. On a recent edition of the 4th&1 with Cam Newton show, the former Carolina Panther spoke about why he felt Notre Dame hadn't earned the right to play for the national title.

" I don't think Notre Dame has earned the right (to play these games), because they don't even play for a f***ing conference championship," Newton said on Friday. (24:30)

The conference status of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish has once again become a talking point with the program one game away from becoming national champions.

Notre Dame is one of the only major College Football programs that does not play in a conference. This gives them flexibility in terms of choosing the teams that they face. This flexibility is something that many of the other big programs do not have as the majority of their schedules are taken up by conference opponents.

Notre Dame does not have this problem. While they have a relationship with the ACC (The Fighting Irish are a full member of the conference in Basketball), meaning that they play a select number of ACC teams each year, these aren't necessarily games with the teams at the top of the ACC.

Notre Dame AD on the advantages of independent status

The independent status of the Fighting Irish is seen as an advantage by the program's management. This is something that they are more than happy to admit. Notre Dame Athletic Director Pete Bevacqua did exactly that when he spoke to ESPN's Heather Dinich.

"No secret, the expansion of the CFP from four to 12 teams has helped enormously," Bevacqua said. "Because as an independent, as with other schools, we get better opportunities, better percentages of getting in the playoffs, and the more you knock on that national championship door, the better."

While many do not like the independent status and the somewhat different standards that Notre Dame faces when compared to other top teams, the Fighting Irish hierarchy has no intention of changing things.