Notre Dame Supporting a 24-Team Playoff is a Mistake

Among the growing list of supporters for a 24-team Playoff, you'll now find Notre Dame.

The program that has stood by its independence — even as conferences are becoming bigger and more powerful than ever — has leaned into what appears to be inevitable expansion.

Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua confirmed that to The Athletic's Pete Sampson:

Notre Dame wants a 24-team College Football Playoff. At ACC spring meetings, I asked athletic director Pete Bevacqua to explain why.

“I think 24 is not the only solution, but I think it's the best solution.”https://t.co/Pdx0PawGjw
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) May 13, 2026

Miss me with that.

This can't just be "but the money ... " for Notre Dame

Last I checked, Notre Dame's decisions have never been 100% financially motivated. If that were the case, a move to the Big Ten or SEC would've happened a decade ago.

That story from The Athletic didn't frame Bevacqua's stance as one that was purely financial. He instead outlined the need for "hope" within the sport and how coaches have tenures that are defined by Playoff berths. Without hope, college football cannot exist, according to Bevacqua.

Sure. If that's what you want to tell yourself is going to help the future of college football, that's on you.

Dare I say, a borderline Top-25 team that gets bounced by three touchdowns in the first round of a 24-team Playoff won't suddenly feel accomplished. Don't believe that? We saw teams in the 4-team Playoff (Oklahoma) who made the field and still looked like they were lightyears away from winning a title.

Fans can see through that. They should also see through Bevacqua's stance of aligning with the ACC instead of aligning with the SEC and ESPN, who are seemingly the last two parties who don't want expansion.

It can be justified as "the path of least resistance," when in reality, Notre Dame needs to be a bit more selfish here.

It has a combination that only a handful of programs have. That is, an elite coach with an established brand who has already been a player in multiple iterations of the Playoff.

Yes, Notre Dame missed the 12-team Playoff last year and would've been considered a real threat to make another deep run had it made the field. ACC commissioner Jim Phillips outlined as much when he flipped his stance on the Irish's 2025 Playoff credentials.

No, that's not enough of a reason for a premier program to push for expansion. Find me a premier program who hasn't felt robbed at least once since the Playoff era began in 2014. It happens. Life goes on.

Notre Dame should instead support a system that is working for it

In the 12-team or even the 16-team Playoff, Notre Dame's independence is acknowledged.

The new top-12 auto bid stipulation works in favor of the Irish with the current system. If the 5-11 model (auto bids for the four Power Conference champions and the highest-ranked Group of 5 conference champ) is used, that provides nearly a dozen at-large bids for Notre Dame to potentially earn.

Once upon a time, Bevacqua supported a 16-team Playoff. One can't help but think that he'd still be in support of that if it aligned with the ACC and others who have since pushed for the 24-team Playoff.

Bevacqua's hope that an increased Playoff field will lead to more scheduling of elite non-conference matchups seems like just that — hope. It's not guaranteed. At all. Also, Notre Dame's future schedule for the rest of the decade doesn't reflect a program in need of any help in that department.

If anything, one could worry about the opposite reaction with an expanded Playoff. As in, teams would try to cancel a Notre Dame series knowing that there's upside in making the regular-season schedule more favorable for teams who hope to make a deep Playoff run.

Notre Dame has already proven capable of checking that box. It doesn't need hope, especially ahead of what could be its highest preseason ranking in the AP Poll in 20 years. No longer is Notre Dame the program that had just three wins vs. top-5 teams from 2000-21 (Freeman has three such wins).

Times have changed. It's a shame that the Irish have sided with the party that seems insistent on instituting a postseason that's banking on hope leading to bigger paychecks instead of concern that it'll lead to declining regular-season interest.

We don't know what the future holds for the potential expanded Playoff and where the Irish fit in. The Big Ten and SEC get final say in that argument.

For now, all we know is that Notre Dame made a head-scratching move on where it aligns.

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