Notre Dame’s athletic director said he things "there’s a chance" there'll be tweaks to the way the CFP awards byes next year.

Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua said the school prefers to remain independent even though the Irish are ineligible for byes under the current CFP model.

And of course, quarterback Riley Leonard is from Fairhope, Ala., southeast of Mobile. He came to Notre Dame via transfer from Duke, but he also grew up a Fighting Irish fan, his great grandfather having played for Notre Dame in the 1940s.

Thomas Casale has locked in his 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship game picks for Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Monday

From tradition-soaked to downtown South Bend bars, check out this list of venues to watch Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff championship game

It was early August when Notre Dame’s projected starting left tackle suffered a torn right pectoral muscle and was ruled out for the rest of the year. But he didn’t look at it that way. The sophomore imagined a world in which he could return if Notre Dame reached the expanded College Football Playoff, and he attacked his rehab with that in mind.

Quarterback Riley Leonard and the Notre Dame offense have faced a fierce gauntlet of defenses in their path to the College Football Playoff title game

Ohio State is chasing its first college football national championship in a decade, while Notre Dame has not won since 1988.