The final bracket reveal for the College Football Playoff is set for Sunday, after Championship weekend has concluded on Saturday. This is a weekend that Notre Dame has never participated in, as they are an independent program and have never once competed for a conference championship.
It has been a sore subject for some teams, especially when it comes to the College Football Playoff, because it doesn't give Notre Dame the possibility of losing another game right before the bracket reveal. However, on the flip side, it also doesn't give Notre Dame the chance to get an automatic bid or secure its spot even more with a conference championship win.
Going into this weekend, Notre Dame is ranked No. 9 before the final rankings release on Tuesday. It is tough to believe that the committee will rank the Fighting Irish any higher than that, with only Oklahoma being the other two-loss team ahead of them. So, Notre Dame will be home watching and hoping that a few teams lose in order to give the Irish their best shot at making the playoffs.
Notre Dame's odds at making the CFP hang in the balance during Championship Weekend
As with anything in sports, there are odds on which teams will and won't make the College Football Playoff. So, before we go any further, here are the odds of Notre Dame, Alabama, and BYU making and missing the CFP:
Notre Dame
- Yes: -375
- No:+285
Alabama
- Yes: -2000
- No: +920
BYU (Odds to win Big 12 Championship: +400)
- Yes: +390
- No: -550
Looking at these odds, it is saying that Notre Dame and Alabama have better odds than BYU to make the College Football Playoff. The reason the focus is on these three teams is that only 12 teams get into the playoff, but there are five automatic conference champion qualifiers.
So, with a Group of Five team and the ACC not having anyone in the field as of right now, they are most likely going to be the No. 12 and No. 11 spots, leaving only seven other spots for non-conference champions. So that leaves:
- Notre Dame
- Alabama
- Oklahoma
- Ole Miss
- Oregon
- Indiana
- Ohio State (Big Ten favorite)
- Georgia (SEC favorite)
- Texas A&M
- Texas Tech (Big 12 favorite)
- BYU
So take out the three teams who are the favorites, and that leaves eight teams with only seven spots. The three teams at the bottom of the list would be Notre Dame, Alabama, and BYU. Both Alabama and BYU have a chance to secure their spots with a conference championship win, as both are competing in the SEC and Big 12 championships.
The best case scenarios for Notre Dame would be both teams losing, but Notre Dame could survive if Alabama win, they make just drop a spot in the field to No. 10. However, if BYU wins, that will create a lot of chaos in the field for the Irish.
If BYU beats Texas Tech in the Big 12 Championship, then that would put both of those teams in, as the Red Raiders have more than secured their spot right now, sitting at No. 5 in the latest CFP rankings before the final release on Tuesday. That would put BYU in and most likely Notre Dame out, especially if Alabama wins the SEC as well.
So, Notre Dame is going to have to hope that Texas Tech and Georgia both prevail in their games to give the Irish its best shot at getting into the field.