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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have been the talk of college football after the change to the playoff format.
On Tuesday, the College Football Playoff board of managers unanimously approved a model that will guarantee the five highest-ranked conference champions' inclusion in the expanded 12-team field this fall, along with the next seven highest-ranked teams.
The change is originally the plan was automatic bids for the six highest ranked conference champions and six at large bids. By removing a conference champion, the five automatic bids will likely go to the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC champions.
But, what does that mean for Notre Dame who isn't part of a conference in football?
Notre Dame's playoff chances
The change to the playoff format has some positives but also negatives for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
By removing one automatic bid, Notre Dame now has a better chance to make the college football playoffs, as the Fighting Irish will compete for seven spots.
However, the path to win a national title is now even harder for Notre Dame as the Fighting Irish will never have a bye. Due to Notre Dame not playing in a conference, the Fighting Irish can only be the fifth seed at best.
"The new College Football Playoff will put the 4 highest ranked conference champions as seeds 1 through 4. That means that even if Notre Dame is the #1 ranked team in the country, they would get the #5 seed, requiring them to win 4 straight games to win a title. That's brutal." - Joe Pompliano.
As Pompliano says, Notre Dame will have to play an extra game than the conference champions, which makes their path harder. But, many fans say it is the Fighting Irish's fault for not joining a conference.
But, with seven at-large bids available, Notre Dame has a better chance of making the playoff than they did before.
With the new format, the 5-through-12 teams will play each other in the first round of the expanded playoff, with the four highest-seeded teams hosting those first-round games on their home campuses.
