Notre Dame's 38-36 loss to Stanford dropped it two spots to No. 8 in the penultimate College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night.
The idle Irish are likely to be selected to participate in a New Year's Six bowl, either the Fiesta Bowl (Glendale, Ariz.) or Peach Bowl (Atlanta). The pairings for the College Football Playoff and four premier New Year's Eve or New Year's Day bowls will be announced by the selection committee Sunday at noon E.T.
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Heading into the final week of the season, Notre Dame's two losses --both by two points -- came to No. 1 Clemson and No. 7 Stanford. The Irish beat top 25 teams in No. 20 USC, No. 22 Temple and No. 23 Navy.
Oklahoma, which would've been Notre Dame's primary playoff competition had it hung on against Stanford, ranked No. 3, while No. 2 Alabama, No. 4 Iowa, No. 5 Michigan State, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 9 Florida State and No. 10 North Carolina rounded out the top 10.
Notre Dame is likely to play either Ohio State, Florida State, the loser of the Iowa/Michigan State Big Ten Championship or Houston -- but only if the Cougars beat Temple in the AAC Championship to remain the highest-ranked group of five team. If Temple beats Houston, expect Notre Dame to play FSU or a Big Ten team in its bowl game.