Georgia Tech Would Have Made 24-Team Playoff at No. 22, Facing No. 11 Notre Dame

Q: Could a late-season collapse still lead to a national title under the controversial new 24-team college football playoff format?

Yes. Under the proposed 24-team College Football Playoff, a team that stumbles late could still reach — and theoretically win — the national title. That is exactly what the Georgia Tech example shows. The Yellow Jackets opened 8-0, then lost four of their final five games, finished 9-4, missed the ACC Championship Game and closed with losses to Georgia and BYU. Under the projected 24-team bracket based on the final 2025 rankings, Georgia Tech still would have qualified as the No. 22 seed and played at No. 11 Notre Dame, with a second-round trip to No. 6 Ole Miss awaiting the winner. The new format greatly expands access. Reports indicate the field would include 24 teams, with seeds 1-8 getting byes and seeds 9-24 playing on-campus first-round games. That means a team no longer has to finish with a clean November or make its conference title game to stay alive. A strong overall résumé can be enough. What the format does not do is make a late collapse irrelevant. Lower-seeded teams would face the hardest path: no bye, no home game, and likely multiple road or neutral-site wins against stronger seeds. In Georgia Tech’s case, it would have needed to beat a surging Notre Dame team that reached the national title game, then likely Ole Miss, then more elite opponents. So the answer is yes — a late-season collapse could still leave a team in the bracket and therefore in the title race. But the collapse would sharply reduce its odds by forcing a much steeper playoff road.

3 articles · Updated · Sports Illustrated · Oct 16

No. 22 Georgia Tech would have reached its first playoff in program history under a proposed 24-team format, drawing a road first-round game at No. 11 Notre Dame.
Momentum is building for a 24-team College Football Playoff as soon as next season, prompting a look at which teams would have qualified under the expanded field.
Georgia Tech earned that hypothetical berth off a 9-4 season, even after starting 8-0 and then losing four of its final five games to miss the ACC title game.
Notre Dame would have been a steep hurdle: the Irish finished a 10-game double-digit winning streak after close losses to Miami and Texas A&M.
For Brent Key's program, the expanded bracket would not change most recent seasons, but it would have recast last year as a playoff breakthrough.