Newsstand: What 2024 College Football Expansion means for Notre Dame
College football news never sleeps. Pete Thamel of ESPN dropped a tidbit late Wednesday night that could affect Notre Dame in as early as two seasons from now.
One of the last required resolutions preventing the College Football Playoff from expanding to 12 teams for the 2024 season was the Rose Bowl holding out on its vote to try to keep its coveted 5 p.m. ET New Year’s Day kickoff time slot. Thamel reported the Rose Bowl backed off and signed an agreement with the CFP.
That means there should be a 12-team playoff at the end of the 2024 campaign.
The Fighting Irish finished inside the top 12 but not inside the top four of the CFP rankings twice from 2014-21. They were No. 8 in 2015 and No. 5 last year. In the new format, those marks would be good enough to get in the dance.
With the top four teams receiving first-round byes, seeds No. 5 through No. 8 host home playoff games. South Bend would have been the site of CFP games in both 2015 and 2021 using the same model. It would have been the site of playoff games in 2018 and 2020, too, even though Notre Dame was No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, in those seasons. As an independent, the Irish are not eligible for a first-round bye.
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Even this year, the Irish might have been playing for a spot in the new playoff format in the regular-season finale. A win over then-No. 6 USC combined with everything else that occurred to shuffle the rankings last Saturday would have almost certainly moved the then-No. 15 Irish into the top 12.
In time, folks will likely find ways to nitpick the new system. But for now, two years before it begins, it’s fun to use as a speculation tool.
Notre Dame tweets of the day
Irish in the NFL.
The best decision he’s ever made in his life.
Olivia Miles.
Quote of the day
“You want to play big games, big-time opponents. When we have a team as good as we do, you want to see what you’re made of and go battle against great teams.”
Headlines of the day
Joe Alt, Michael Mayer named PFF All-Americans (Patrick Engel)
From worst to best, we rank Notre Dame’s 12 regular-season performances (Todd Burlage)
Notre Dame football regular season report card: Grading the Irish offense (Tyler Horka)
Notre Dame football regular season report card: Grading the Irish defense (Tyler Horka)
WATCH: Cam Hart’s return, Notre Dame roster management breakdown (Mike Singer)
