I find your lack of faith disturbing.
Anyway, Notre Dame picking up their ball and going home since they (rightfully) did NOT earn a playoff berth is the funniest thing about this whole postseason.
First off, you don't see Texas whining about this. "It's not about what happened to us, it's about what are we going to do moving forward." And yeah, Michigan is a great opponent, Orlando is a great place to play. Nothing shitty about that. ND vs BYU in the absolutely legendary Pop Tart bowl would've been great, too. That ND can't see that just shows how petty and stupid it is.
Having both of our teams out will move the playoffs to 16 teams, at a minimum, and sooner rather than later. We both have a right to be in it, and everyone knows that, to say nothing of the sheer money being left on the table. I'll be surprised if the Citrus Bowl doesn't get more eyeballs and generate more money than most of the playoff games.
But ND's little hissy fit is gonna be remembered, and not in a nice way. I think this will be the moment that Notre Dame will more or less permanently move into the realm of "Great CFB Has-Beens That Never Will Be Again" along with Yale, Rutgers, Georgia Tech (sorry, bugs) and Clemson (lol).