Notre Dame’s trip-up in the ACC title game was only a detour on its road to the College Football Playoff instead of a roadblock.
The Fighting Irish (10-1) are the No. 4 seed and will face No. 1 Alabama (11-0) in the CFP semifinal in the Rose Bowl relocated to Arlington, Texas, on Jan. 1. It is their second CFP appearance in three seasons.
With the selection, Notre Dame becomes the first team to lose a conference title game and still reach the playoff. A 34-10 loss to Clemson in the ACC Championship Saturday knocked the Irish down two spots to No. 4, but not all the way out. They edged out No. 5 Texas A&M (8-1) for the final spot after a more anxious wait than desired.
“There was some doubt, but we felt our body of work was outstanding,” coach Brian Kelly said on the selection show. “When you don’t play up to your level, you open it up to someone else making decisions. We knew our destiny was out of our hands.”
All told, Notre Dame’s résumé carried it to a playoff spot. The Irish have wins over No. 2 Clemson and North Carolina, which committee chair Gary Barta revealed will be No. 13 when the rest of the CFP top 25 is unveiled later Sunday. Their lone loss was to a team it beat. They defeated four teams that finished above .500.
“Two teams that have really similar resumes, played really similar schedules,” Barta said on ESPN’s selection show. “Coming into this weekend, Notre Dame was undefeated. In the end, the committee felt Notre Dame had earned its way there because of the complete analysis of the résumé, and that probably came down to having an additional win against a ranked team.”
Alabama, meanwhile, sealed the top spot by defeating No. 7 Florida in the SEC Championship. It also beat top-10 opponents Georgia (No. 8 last week) and Texas A&M.
The Irish and Crimson Tide will meet for the first time since the 2013 BCS Championship in Miami, which Alabama won 42-14. It’ll be heavily rehashed in the days and weeks leading up to the game, especially after Notre Dame’s most recent offering was a blowout loss to one of college football’s heavyweights.
“We understand that if we don’t play to our standard, we can be beaten pretty bad,” Kelly said. “Our guys recognize what they need to do from a mental preparation standpoint to play a great football team in Alabama. We’re much better prepared than we were in 2012 in terms of the physicality of both lines. I think we have the ability to move the football, certainly. Those things are going to have be in play.
“We’ve been humbled about the way we play. This team has always come back with a resilience and edge about them.”
William Hill sportsbook set the opening line at Alabama -17.5. Kickoff is at 5 p.m. ET. Barta said capacity at AT&T Stadium will be 16,000 fans. The game was relocated from the Rose Bowl due to its inability to host any fans, namely players’ families, which Kelly bemoaned Friday before the game was formally moved.
“We’re grateful to the Rose Bowl to make that change,” Kelly said. “I know it was difficult and there are a lot of things that go into it. Just really grateful that everybody was able to sit down and think about it that this makes sense to get the families to the game.”
This story has been updated.
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