Missouri's Gary Pinkel wants independents like Notre Dame to join a conference

No conference? Then no chance at the championship, at least according to Gary Pinkel.

During Monday's ESPN "Car Wash," Pinkel, Missouri's head coach, didn't mince words when it was suggested independent teams Notre Dame, BYU, and Army should join a conference if they want to join the College Football Playoff conversation.

"I think all independents should join a conference, as a general rule," Pinkel told Heather Dinich of ESPN.com. "I didn't say Notre Dame in particular – everybody. You don't have independents in the NFL. Leagues are leagues. I just think it's difficult to assess a team that's not in a league. It's nothing against Notre Dame, it's just my opinion."

He added to ESPN's Brett McMurphy that Notre Dame should be given a year to join a conference.

College football is far from the NFL in terms of structure, but the comparison drives Pinkel's point home.

Pinkel noted that the Big 12 is the only conference without a title game, and that every conference should have as similar a path as possible to the playoff.

"You have some people that don't play championship games because now they only have 10 teams," he said. "I get that, but if down the road, you really want to do it right, I think, everybody's in a league and everybody plays in a championship game, ideally."