Alabama and Miami are in, Notre Dame is absent and Indiana is in first place in the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket released Sunday as the Irish reacted with anger to their omission.
The undefeated Hoosiers moved up to first place thanks to their historic win in the Big Ten title game against Ohio State, which dropped one spot after a 13-10 loss. SEC champion Georgia is ranked third and Big 12 champion Texas Tech is fourth. All four receive first-round byes.
Much of the drama revolved around the bubble teams, with No. 9 Alabama and No. 10 Miami entering the field ahead of last season's finalists, Notre Dame, who lost to the Hurricanes in Week 1.
After the bracket was announced, Notre Dame said it would withdraw from the bowl game after the snub. The Fighting Irish (10-2), who had won their last 10 games by an average margin of nearly 30 points, watched the championship weekend from afar, sitting idle as a free agent, unable to impress the selection committee one last time in the league title game. Miami also finished the season 10–2, while Alabama finished the season 10–3.
Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua and coach Marcus Freeman have been on the right track in recent weeks, avoiding excessive lobbying and believing their winning streak will be enough to earn a berth over Alabama.
“As a team, we have decided to withdraw our name from consideration for a bowl game following the 2025 season,” the team said in a statement. “We appreciate all the support from our families and fans and look forward to bringing our 12th national title to South Bend in 2026.”
CFP selection committee chairman Hunter Yurachek said the head-to-head matchup between Miami and Notre Dame was the deciding factor.
“Once we moved Miami ahead of BYU, we had that side-by-side comparison that everyone was craving,” Yurachek said. “You look at these two teams on paper and they're almost evenly matched in terms of schedule makeup, common opponents, results against common opponents. But the only metric we had to rely on, again, was head-to-head.”
Unlike Iowa State and Kansas State, which were each fined $500,000 by the Big 12 for not playing bowl games due to a coaching change, Notre Dame will not be penalized because they are not full members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
American Conference champion Tulane finished in 11th place, while Sun Belt champion James Madison finished ahead of Atlantic Coast Conference champion Duke.
The others: No. 5 Oregon, No. 6 Ole Miss, No. 7 Texas A&M and No. 8 Oklahoma.
The playoffs begin Dec. 19-20 with first-round games: James Madison at Oregon; Tulane in Mississippi; Miami at Texas A&M; and Alabama in Oklahoma.
The final is set for January 19 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
