Notre Dame AD says he thinks there’s a chance for seed adjustments in the College Football Playoff

On By Littum

ATLANTA — Notre Dame’s athletic director said “I think there’s a chance” for adjustments to the way the College Football Playoff awards byes next year — an issue that will be debated this weekend but would require unanimous approval from the 10 conferences and the Fighting Irish.

Speaking at media day Saturday prior to the national title game, Pete Bevacqua, in his first year guiding the Notre Dame athletic department, called the 12-team playoff premiere “a wonderful success, but watch who you’re talking to.”

Notre Dame will try for its first title since 1988 on Monday when it plays Ohio State.

The current format awards automatic berths in the tournament to the five highest-ranked conference champions and grants byes to the top four. The system was devised before the collapse of the Pac-12, which reduced the number of power conferences from five to four.

The result this year was that Boise State and Arizona State each jumped several teams in the rankings to earn first-round byes. Both lost their first matches, as did no. 1 Oregon and no. 2 Georgia.

Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey has said he hopes there is interest in changing the seeding formula before next season, while acknowledging it will be difficult to get the group of 10 conference commissioners and Bevacqua to agree.

For his part, Bevacqua sounded hopeful and expected the topic to come up at a meeting Sunday.

“I think there’s a chance,” he said. “I think everyone wants the best for the overall system.”

Bevacqua did not indicate that any change in the seeding structure should include giving Notre Dame a shot at one of those byes. Part of the deal made when the playoffs expanded gave the Fighting Irish $12 million starting in 2026 just to be part of the CFP system. It also blocked their chance to receive a bye since they are not part of a conference.

The AD said that if conference title games go away, as some have suggested they should, “then I think we absolutely have to look at Notre Dame’s ability to get a bye if we’re a top-four team.”