College football's regular season has concluded but plenty remains to be learned from conference championship weekend before the College Football Playoff reveals the bracket for the inagural 12-team tournament on Sunday.

In his latest playoff and bowl projections, McMurphy has the Irish grabbing the No. 5 seed, which is common for a lot of experts right now. He predicts them to win their first-round game over UNLV and then defeat Arizona State in the Fiesta Bowl quarterfinal. He has them falling to Oregon in the Cotton Bowl semifinal.

Multiple prominent teams around the nation are sweating their College Football Playoff fate as the 2024 regular season draws to a close. For those on the bubble, there's only one guaranteed game left to leave an impression.

Analyzing the best potential College Football Playoff matchups for Notre Dame and which team gives the Irish the best shot at victory.

The four projected College Football Playoff first-round byes this week went to top-ranked Oregon, No. 3 Texas, No. 6 Miami and No. 11 Boise State.