Notre Dame's latest playoff position would see an SEC power roll into South Bend

The latest College Football Playoffs rankings are out and they are very good news for a Notre Dame football team who has been hoping their eight-game winning streak might get them into a spot where they could host a first round game. According to the committee, their latest big win, as well as some other at-large teams dropping games they couldn’t afford to lose, the Irish are now the No. 8 seed, despite being the No. 6 team in the rankings.

There was quite a bit of shifting in the rankings and the bracket this week, but the Fighting Irish’s game might be one of the most interesting first round game. Should the season end today, it would mean that the Blue and Gold would host an SEC power, in December. That certainly sounds like a fun way to potentially pull off an upset.

The latest bracket has the Alabama Crimson Tide facing off against the Notre Dame football team  as the No. 9 seed. The Crimson Tide does that thanks to a bit of a surprising jump up the rankings. ‘Bama moved up three spots, like the Irish, benefitting from some higher ranked teams getting handed bad losses.

Notre Dame Football gets some serious home field advantage

The rest of the bracket actually has three SEC teams heading to cold weather sites for the first round of the playoffs. No. 7 seeded Indiana would host No. 10 Ole Miss while No. 6 seed Penn State would face off against No. 11 seed Georgia.

The fourth first-round game would see 12th seeded BYU travel to Columbus to take on No. 5 seeded Ohio State.

The top four seeds who get a bye are Oregon, Texas, Miami, and Boise State. The Broncos jump into the Top 4 thanks to being one of the highest ranked conference champions. BYU losing this past weekend bumped them from that first-round bye.

There’s still also the chance for an All-Indiana championship game with the Hoosiers and Notre Dame football on opposite sides of the bracket. Of course, in order to do that, the Blue and Gold would need to get past an Alabama team they’ve played in the playoffs before. 

After the 2020 season, Notre Dame football lost 31-14 to the Crimson Tide in the College Football Semifinal back when the field was just four teams.