Marcus Freeman didn’t dance around the obvious on Monday: a 24-team College Football Playoff helps Notre Dame.
A day after the CFP announced it will expand to 24 teams in 2027, the Irish coach was asked what he thought about the move. Freeman didn’t try to sell it as some universal win for the sport. He said exactly what the format means for his program.
"I don’t want this to be like March Madness and have 60-something teams … ” Freeman said during his Monday press conference. “ ...
But the more opportunities we have to make the playoffs helps us. ... That doesn’t mean it’s good for everybody else, but for us at Notre Dame, it’s a positive."
That kind of honesty is part of why Freeman comes off so well, even when his answer hands critics a fresh talking point. He didn’t pretend the change is equally helpful across college football. He made clear that Notre Dame stands to gain.
The expansion would also change how games like Notre Dame’s win over Miami are viewed. Under a 24-team setup, a loss in that game likely would not have knocked the Irish out of playoff contention. This year, though, the CFP Committee made it clear that if Notre Dame had lost to the Hurricanes, the Irish would have had no shot at the 12-team field.
That is exactly why Freeman had every reason to like the news.
Of course, plenty of people will hear his comments and file them under “what’s wrong with Notre Dame.” But plenty of coaches elsewhere would love the same thing: more chances to get in, and once they’re there, the chance to swing for the upset.
Freeman didn’t create the new format, and he didn’t vote it in. He’s just living with the system college football leadership put in place. Still, he wasn’t going to fake outrage over a change that clearly works in his team’s favor.
And he didn’t need to.
In Other News...
Notre Dame Just Added Another Big Ten Test To Its Future Schedule
Notre Dame has filled another spot on its future calendar with a matchup that should carry plenty of weight when it arrives. The Irish have lined up a two-game home-and-home series with Washington for the 2031 and 2034 seasons, a swap that comes after a previously planned series with Florida was canceled. The first meeting will be in South Bend, with Notre Dame Stadium hosting the opener before the return game shifts to Seattle three years later.
For Notre Dame, the addition keeps the schedule lined up with the kind of high-profile nonconference tests the program has long valued. Washington brings real pedigree into the series as a current Big Ten member with a football history that includes multiple conference and national championships, which gives the matchup a little extra heft beyond the usual future scheduling announcement. The only question now is how much both programs will have changed by the time the first kickoff finally arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dame Has The Edge But Boston College Brings A Real Trap
Notre Dame enters this matchup with the cleaner recruiting profile and the more obvious edge in several position groups, which is why the Irish are being viewed as the more complete team on paper. The numbers behind the roster construction point in their favor, and the matchup breakdowns suggest Notre Dame should have answers if it plays to its strengths.
Boston College, though, has enough veteran experience and transfer portal help to make this feel less comfortable than the rankings might suggest. It has the look of a classic trap game, the kind that can echo a past meeting from 1993, where the favored team still has to handle a physical, older opponent that knows how to make things awkward if the favorite is even a little off. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama Has One CFP Ranking Tension Fans Need To Watch
The first College Football Playoff rankings always bring a fresh round of debate, and this years opening reveal came right after a Week 10 slate that gave the committee plenty to sort through. Alabama, Tennessee, Notre Dame and UCLA all turned in performances that figure to shape the next set of rankings, with each result adding another layer to an already crowded race for position.
For Notre Dame fans, the focus now turns to how the committee weighs those recent showings against the broader body of work. The second rankings should offer a better sense of whether the Irish are gaining traction or still waiting for the kind of movement that can change the conversation, while Alabamas place in the mix remains one of the more closely watched parts of the bracket picture. [Read more 🡒]