Many believe that Notre Dame football will make a return to the College Football Playoff this coming season, and on Monday they announced the schedule for the 2026-27 season’s bracket.
The Irish hope that they won’t see another snub, and have the potential to earn a first-round bye. If they don’t, the game will be held on the higher seeds campus and will start on Friday, Dec. 18th starting at 7 p.m. CDT, with a single game then three games Saturday, Dec. 19th with the first one beginning at 11 a.m. CDT.
The second-round will consists of the VRBO Fiesta Bowl, Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, Goodyear Cotton Bowl and the Rose Bowl, but just one of the games locations is set at the moment. The first game, the Fiesta Bowl, will be on Wednesday, Dec. 30th then a day break with the remaining three games being played on Fri, Jan. 1st, the first one’s kickoff at 11 a.m. CDT.
The semifinals will then be played on Thursday, Jan. 14th and Friday, Jan. 15th. The first one will be hosted by the Capital One Orange Bowl, the second will be the Allstate Sugar Bowl, both with 6:30 p.m. CDT start times. The championship game will be on Monday, Jan. 25th, with the kickoff set at 6:30 p.m. CDT and will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada at Allegiant Stadium.
It’s time to mark your calendars for over a month of the CFP, which has become the norm since the expansion to 12-teams. Hopefully Notre Dame will still be playing football in late January.
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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: The College Football Playoff has announced its 2026-27 schedule
Reporting by Michael Chen , Fighting Irish Wire / Fighting Irish Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
