The coronavirus pandemic notwithstanding, the blue bloods are back in the College Football Playoff.
Top-ranked Alabama will meet No. 4 Notre Dame in a national semifinal, the playoff selection committee announced on Sunday, while No. 2 Clemson will face No. 3 Ohio State in the other gateway to a championship game scheduled to cap a season that the pandemic regularly disrupted.
Unlike last season, when playoff seedings were the only details in doubt after league championships, Notre Dame’s fate was uncertain until Sunday afternoon, its postseason prospects dented by a humbling loss to Clemson on Saturday in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game.