BREAKING | Notre Dame Lands The 7-Seed In CFB Playoffs
The first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff is set.
Notre Dame is in the field.
And the Irish will be hosting a first-round game.
But that much has been known since Notre Dame wrapped up its regular season a week ago with a 49-35 win at USC to finish 11-1 and on a 10-game winning streak.
The Irish had to wait until Sunday - a day after the conference championship games - to learn exactly where they would be seeded, who they would be playing in Round 1 and who would be waiting for the winner of that game in the Quarterfinals.
There were two key questions that pertained directly to the Irish after Saturday’s games.
How far would Texas fall after losing the SEC title game to Georgia in overtime?
And would Penn State remain ahead of Notre Dame despite a 45-37 loss to Oregon in the Big Ten Championship game?
We got our answers with the release of the final College Football Playoff rankings on Sunday.
Unfortunately for the Irish, they did not benefit from Championship Saturday.
The Bulldogs jumped in front of Notre Dame by virtue of their win over Texas, while the Longhorns and Penn State remained ahead of them, sliding the Irish back to the #5 spot in the rankings, one place down from last week.
Because the top four spots and the byes that come with them are reserved for the top-ranked conference champions, that #5 ranking becomes the 7th seed for the Irish.
Notre Dame will host 10th-seeded Indiana in the first round on Friday, Dec. 20th at 8 p.m.
The winner of that game will face #2 Georgia in the Quarterfinals.
The biggest question that didn’t impact Notre Dame directly was who would get the final spot. Would SMU hang in and get the final at-large bid at the expense of Alabama, who was idle?
In the end, the committee decided that SMU’s last-second loss to Clemson on a 56-yard field goal was not enough to bump them all the way out, keeping the Mustangs in the field and the Crimson Tide out.
The other key question that was answered on Sunday was Arizona State receiving the 4th seed and the first-round bye that comes with it over Clemson.
FINAL CFB PLAYOFF RANKINGS
(Seed In Parentheses)
1. Oregon (1)
2. Georgia (2)
3. Texas (5)
4. Penn State (6)
5. Notre Dame (7)
6. Ohio State (8)
7. Tennessee (9)
8. Indiana (10)
9. Boise State (3)
10. SMU (11)
11. Alabama (-)
12. Arizona State (4)
16. Clemson (12)
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