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Newsstand: Would Notre Dame make a 12-team College Football Playoff if it occurred this season?

Singer headshotby:Mike Singer•10/31/23•

MikeTSinger

Notre Dame Stadium
Notre Dame Stadium ahead of the 94th meeting between the USC Trojans and Fighting Irish (Erik McKinney/WeAreSC)

In 2014, the NCAA moved away from the BCS format to a four-team playoff for the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). That will end after this season, as the FBS will move to a 12-team playoff starting in the 2024-25 season.

Two losses in the current college football landscape makes it nearly impossible to win a national title. No team has done so in the playoff era. But in a 12-team setup, it can happen.

On3 national writer and podcaster Andy Staples published an article Monday evening to take a look at what he believes what the playoff spots would look like in the 12-team scenario.

“When the College Football Playoff selection committee releases its first ranking for the 2023 season on Tuesday, don’t stop watching at No. 4,” Staples wrote. “Pay attention to how the teams down the line get ranked, because it will be very instructive for us as we prepare for a 12-team playoff world.

Here’s his list:

1. Georgia (SEC champ)
2. Michigan (Big Ten champ)
3. Florida State (ACC champ)
4. Oregon (Pac-12 champ) 
5. Ohio State (At-large)
6. Oklahoma (Big 12 champ)
7. Washington (At-large)
8. Texas (At-large)
9. Alabama (At-large)
10. Louisville (At-large)
11. Notre Dame (At-large)
12. Air Force (Mountain West champ)

Staples added the following in his article: Remember, we aren’t using the new conference alignments for this exercise, and we’re still using the 12-team CFP rules that were approved last year. Those require that the teams seeded one through four are conference champs. There remains a chance that one of the six automatic bids could be taken away by the time the 2024 season starts. But for this exercise, we’ll go with six automatic bids and six at-large bids.

To answer the question in the headline, Notre Dame would have good shot to make a 12-team playoff if it took place this year, just as it has a decent chance to make a New Years Six bowl this winter in the current setup.

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Quote of the day

“He’s a talented player. I think I heard Coach Swinney say it, ‘There’s nothing like experience.’ Like you have to go through some of the ups and downs that being a first-year starter in the ACC and college football presents, but he’s as talented of a quarterback as you’ll see. 

“He’s a really good player. I know they’ve had some turnovers. What you realize is that not all turnovers are on a quarterback, even though they take the blame for it, right? He is a really good player that can really run an elite offense.”

— Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman on Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik

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