All week (and really all season), the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have been arguing for their place in the College Football Playoff.
Despite the losses to then-No. 10 Miami and then-No. 16 Texas A&M, the Irish finished the season with an incredible 10-2 overall record and look like one of the hottest teams in the country right now.
Even the CFP committee has repeatedly ranked Notre Dame ahead of Miami and currently has the team at No. 10 in the rankings. On Championship Saturday, before the Fighting Irish watched every game unfold but didn't play in one themselves, the committee chair, Hunter Yurachek, gave them even more hope.
Hunter Yurachek on College GameDay doesn’t say whether Alabama is locked into a spot regardless of today’s SEC title game result.
— Adam Lichtenstein (@ABLichtenstein) December 6, 2025
Hunter Yurachek leaves CFP door cracked for Notre Dame
As a team that isn't playing in a conference title game and isn't ranked highly enough to lock in a spot in the playoffs, Notre Dame relied on an at-large bid from the CFP committee.
Of course, despite the head-to-head loss to the Miami Hurricanes, the Fighting Irish were ranked highly enough to likely earn their place in the playoffs, even with a few major questions remaining:
- If BYU defeated Texas Tech in the Big 12 Championship, could the Cougars end up knocking the Irish out of the playoffs?
- If Virginia or Duke won the ACC Championship, could the Cavaliers or the Blue Devils take one of the 12 playoff spots?
- If Alabama defeated Georgia in the SEC Championship, could the Crimson Tide cement their place in the playoffs of the Irish?
When Yurachek joined ESPN's College GameDay, Rece Davis asked him a few pointed questions about how the committee was considering the results of Championship Saturday. Yurachek left the door cracked open for Notre Dame.
Yurachek, the virtual head of the CFP committee, said that even if Alabama beat Georgia in the SEC Championship game, the Crimson Tide wouldn't necessarily cement its place in the Playoffs, despite having two head-to-head wins over the Bulldogs.
Just like that, the Crimson Tide crowd was suddenly on pins and needles, and the Fighting Irish fanbase was breathing a momentary sigh of relief.
No. 3 Georgia and No. 9 Alabama were scheduled to kick off at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, Dec. 6, and the game was set to be broadcast on ABC. Undeniably, everyone in South Bend would be tuning in to see which SEC team would walk away victorious.