No. 5 Seed (3) Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs No. 12 Seed (13) Clemson Tigers
Despite their solid campaign, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish would also have to take the long way to a National Championship using the BCS rankings. Notre Dame would be relegated to the fifth seed without a conference championship to its name. That would position them against the lowest-ranked opponent, which would end up being the same as the CFP rankings. The Clemson Tigers finished 13th in the BCS standings but, by virtue of their ACC win, would slot into the 12th seed.
