What the proposed 12-team CFP format means for Notre Dame Football

The College Football Playoff’s management committee is expected to recommend an expansion of the College Football Playoff. Here is how that news impacts the Notre Dame football team.

On Thursday, The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach reported that the College Football Playoff’s management committee was going to formally recommend expanding the field of the College Football Playoff from four teams to 12 teams. The move would affect every team in college football, but here, we look at how it affects the Notre Dame Football program.

The management committee making this recommendation includes SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson, and Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick.

So how would a 12-team College Football Playoff format affect Notre Dame Football?

Brian Kelly has led the Irish to the College Football Playoff twice during his tenure. Their first appearance followed the 2018 season, and their second appearance followed the 2020 season.

If the College Football Playoff included 12 teams from the beginning, the Irish would have made their first playoff appearance following the 2015 season. The heartbreaking loss to Stanford in Palo Alto that season would not have completely squashed Notre Dame’s postseason hopes.

I think most Irish fans will be in favor of expanding the College Football Playoff because it improves Notre Dame’s chances to play meaningful post-season football each year. Consistently making the playoffs will also positively impact recruiting and lead to increased revenue for the university athletic department.

However, there is one aspect of the proposed 12-team format that negatively impacts Notre Dame. It has to do with how the conference champions are seeded.

In the new format, the College Football Playoff field would include the six highest-ranked conference champions and six at-large bids.

In most seasons, we will probably see the winners of each of the Power 5 conferences earn an automatic bid along with the highest-ranked conference champion from the Group of 5 conferences.

The part that hurts Notre Dame is the top four conference champions will be seeded 1, 2, 3, and 4 regardless of where they finish in the selection committee’s final rankings. Those top four seeds would get a first-round bye in the new format.

Notre Dame could theoretically be the only undefeated team in college football and be seeded 5th in the College Football Playoff because they are not a member of a conference. If they win their first-round matchup, they would then face a well-rested conference champion.

If that seeding rule is officially included in the new 12-team format, it could be the thing that ultimately forces Notre Dame to join a conference.

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If Jack Swarbrick wants to send a big middle finger to the rest of the College Football Playoff management committee, he could have the Notre Dame football team join the MAC. The Irish would run the table every season and almost always earn a top-four seed as a conference champion.