Notre Dame Football earn 6 seed in latest CFP bracket
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- After finishing the season 11-1, on a 10-game winning streak, the Irish move up from 7 to 6 in the latest playoff bracket, currently scheduled to face an SEC team in round one.
The College Football Playoff committee has spoken. Here's the latest seeding and ranking:
First-round byes:
No. 1 Oregon (BIG 10)
No. 2 Texas (SEC)
No. 3 SMU (ACC)
No. 4 Boise State (Mountain West)
First-round matchups:
No. 12 Arizona State at No. 5 Penn State
No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State
No. 11 Alabama at No. 6 Notre Dame
No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Georgia
There's a lot to unfold here. Let's start with the four conferences champions earning a first round bye. From there, the fifth conference champion (as of now that comes down to Iowa State vs Arizona State).
The one thing that most Irish fans are having a problem with, is Penn State seeded above Notre Dame, with one loss to Ohio State, but the bigger concern is fans don't believe Penn State has played a tough schedule. At least not tougher than Notre Dame.
"Penn State's in a tricky situation here, because basically they just got to beat Oregon to make sure that they get that bye, that you get if you're a conference champion. If they don't, all of a sudden, you run the risk of falling behind Notre Dame and the rankings, which is something if you're Penn State, you have not done all season long," Tyler Horka with Blue and Gold Illustrated said.
"The committee has obviously valued Penn State being in the Big 10. Penn State's loss being to Ohio State, while Notre Dame's was obviously to Northern Illinois at home. But as soon as you take on that second loss, if you are to lose to Oregon, you fall behind Notre Dame and Notre Dame gets into that fifth seed. So, I think Notre Dame is in a really good spot, potentially to slide up in the rankings. If Oregon really is the best team in the country and takes care of business against Penn State, Notre Dame doesn't have to do anything to kind of move up to number five and then all of a sudden, the outlook is so much different for the Irish, Horka added.
As of now Notre Dame will host 9-3 Alabama. Some may think that this isn't the same Crimson Tide of the past without Nick Saban as the Head Coach. It doesn't mean they're not a threat.
"They don't have to host Alabama as it is projected right now. I get it, Alabama has three losses. They can be had this year, but they're still Alabama. They still have all that talent. If you're the number five seed in your Notre Dame, instead, you host a team like Arizona State in South Bend. I think that outlook is so much better and then in the next round, you don't have to play the ACC champion. Maybe you play Boise State, the Mountain West Conference champion. So, the difference between being number five and number six in the seeding is significant and I think Notre Dame is obviously rooting for Penn State to get out of there and for the Irish to move on up," Horka mentioned.