Paul Finebaum believes Notre Dame will have to 'work hard' to not make the College Football Playoff

Notre Dame wants to take early advantage of their new opportunity with the expanded College Football Playoff. Paul Finebaum isn’t worried about that, though, as he thinks they’d need to actively try not to make it in order to miss the field this season.

Finebaum gave an outlook for the Fighting Irish’s year during an interview of ‘GoJo and Golic’ on Friday. In 2024, he’s all in on what they can do considering how their slate sets up throughout the fall.

“I’m buying pretty heavily,” said Finebaum.

Some might disagree with that position, especially with Notre Dame opening on the road in the Southeastern Conference against Texas A&M. However, that matchup in College Station isn’t as concerning to him as most others might see it in that first weekend of the season.

“I think the A&M game? I don’t understand the hype for A&M,” said Finebaum. “Listen, I’ve been to Kyle Field – okay. We all get it. It’s a fantastic arena. But I don’t think the team is that great. So I like Notre Dame in that game.”

At 1-0, Notre Dame could then be in a prime position to have seven or potentially eight wins through an undefeated start heading into November. That final month will include two of their most difficult matchups against Florida State and at USC. Even so, with that possible buffer from early on in the win column, Finebaum thinks they’d really have to hurt themselves in order to not make the College Football Playoff.

“I think they manage the season pretty well,” Finebaum said. “They’ll have to work hard not to make the playoffs with that schedule.”

The Fighting Irish could become a perennial playoff team after expansion with them just needing to reach double-digit wins to be in consideration. That mark starts this season and, according to Finebaum, they could attain it and a berth pretty easily in the end.

Why Notre Dame can’t afford to miss the 12-team playoff

Notre Dame is one of those teams that should benefit the most from an expanded playoff. That makes it all the more important for them to start earning berths in it as early as this season.

Tyler Horka of Blue and Gold spoke with Kaiden Smith on the ‘On3 Roundtable’ about the urgency of a selection in the College Football Playoff for the Fighting Irish. He said it’s a major talking point for the program considering the chance that the expansion provides them.

“Oh, it’s huge,” said Horka. “You might not get it from Marcus Freeman, (Mike) Denbrock, or maybe even some of the players. But the media knows, the fans know. If you’re Notre Dame, you can’t afford to miss a 12-team playoff because that’s eight more opportunities to get into this thing than there were before.”

“All you have to do if you’re Notre Dame is play up to your potential and I think you’re in this College Football Playoff,” Horka said.

In 2024, Horka thinks it’s going to have be a 12-0 or 11-1 finish for Notre Dame. Even a 10-2 record would leave things up for discussion in his opinion due to the schedule. That makes all of their dozen games, most notably the opener in College Station against Texas A&M, an important one.

“If you’re Notre Dame and you don’t have those marquee victories to back up your resumé with? Then you’re talking about a Notre Dame team that might be 10-2 at sitting at No. 13, 14, 15 in the rankings and out of this thing,” admitted Horka. “I think 11-1 is the goal.”