The Recent Notre Dame Team That Shows Why 24 Teams is Far Too Many for CFP

It seems like a matter of time before the CFP expands to 24 teams, and a recent Notre Dame squad shows exactly why that's a bad idea

Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Tyler Buchner (12) looks to handoff during the first quarter of the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl of an NCAA college football game Friday, Dec. 30, 2022 at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish held off the South Carolina Gamecocks 45-38. | Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK

College football appears headed towards a 24-team College Football Playoff.

Now, it may take a few years to get there, and it may take growth to 16 before it jumps all the way to 24, but it certainly seems more like "when" and not "if".

Notre Dame has been perhaps the best team to not win a national championship during the College Football Playoff era.

The Irish have won 10 games in all but three seasons since the CFP began in 2014, and they made a run to the National Championship game just two years ago.

One Notre Dame team in that era that failed to win 10 games serves as a prime example of why 24 teams are too many for the College Football Playoff.

Let's take a trip back in time.

Notre Dame Football in 2022

2022 served as a new beginning for Notre Dame football.

Brian Kelly had just left for LSU and Marcus Freeman was in his first year as head coach.

The season started off respectably enough as Notre Dame gave up a second half lead at Ohio State and fell to the Buckeyes, 21-10.

It was what happened a week later that still gets talked about by college football fans, though.

Notre Dame kicked off the home slate of the 2022 season against Marshall. It was a buy game that Notre Dame was favored to win by by three touchdowns.

Instead, an all-time upset happened as Marshall knocked off the Irish 26-21, and everything about the program under its new head coach was called into question with Notre Dame sitting 0-2.

Those were days where it was hard to imagine Notre Dame becoming a destination shortly after for some of the most talented recruits nationally on a regular basis.

To Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame's credit, it bounced back to win three-straight games, including a win over No. 16 BYU, to move to 3-2.

However, mid-October brought an embarrassing home loss to a lowly Stanford team to fall back to .500.

Notre Dame would rally to win five-straight games before closing the regular season with a 38-27 loss at USC.

The Irish finished 8-4 in Marcus Freeman's first regular season. It may have been impressive compared to what thoughts were following the loss to Marshall, but it clearly wasn't a team that was capable of competing for a national championship.

Notre Dame's Final Standing in 2022 College Football Playoff Rankings

With a 24-team playoff, conference championship games would be eliminated.

So when we go back to 2022 and look at the College Football Playoff rankings, we're looking at how they sat following the conclusion of regular season games, not conference title games.

Notre Dame checked in at No. 21 in them following that loss at USC. That would have been good enough to land Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish in the playoff, despite the resume that is laid out above.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman with players shortly before taking the field for Friday's Gator Bowl game. The University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish took on the University of South Carolina Gamecocks in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl game in Jacksonville, Florida's TIAA Bank Field Friday, December 30, 2022. The first half ended with South Carolina holding a 24 to 17 lead. | Bob Self/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK

It would have meant a first round date at No. 12 Washington, with the winner getting a trip to No. 5 Ohio State.

Sure, the folks in Columbus would have been thrilled to host a playoff game I'm sure, but does anything about that 2022 Notre Dame team speak to being playoff worthy?

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thoughts

Money talks.

Always has, always will.

It runs the world and college football is certainly no different.

More teams and conferences seem to jump in to support the 24-team model by the day, with ESPN and the SEC being really the only impactful outlets left that don't.

It'll eventually bring money that will help fund these powerhouse programs that see their costs only rise each year, but at the same time, it has taken what has long been the best regular season in all of sports and made a complete mockery of it.