It's down to this. Notre Dame and Ohio State meet in the College Football Playoff championship game. Who will prevail? Our experts make their picks.

Here are five teams that didn’t make the College Football Playoff this season that should be strong contenders for qualification next season.

The CFP will never likely surpass the NFL in the attention economy, but the march through the first 12-team Playoff has been a positive one.

Even with a 12-team College Football Playoff, who’s No. 3 at the end of the season still matters. So does No. 13. And No. 18. And No. 25.

There have been performances throughout the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff that should remind us all that players want to play on the biggest stages and at the biggest moments.  In an age where the prevalent theme of December and January in the sport is complaining about who isn't playing -- opt-outs of the full-game and halftime variety -- it is enlightening to dig into who is and what they have to go through to suit up.

Any adjustments to the College Football Playoff for next season, including a potential tweak in the way the teams are seeded, would have to take place later this year, probably in the spring.

Texas A&M quarterback Conner Weigman, No. 15, is chased out of bounds after a scramble by Notre Dame defensive lineman Donovan Hinish, No. 41, during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in College Station, Texas. (AP Photo/Sam Craft) AP

But evolution is also a choice. The dinosaurs didn't have to walk into the tar pits. And college football programs -- even old-timers such as Ohio State and Notre Dame -- don't have to walk into the quicksand of mediocrity, led there by the blinders of obligation to keep on keeping on the same way that Knute Rockne and Woody Hayes did.

Trump gets sworn in as the 47th president of the United States; ABC and CBS kick things off at 9 am, followed by MSNBC and NBC (10 am), PBS (10:30 am) and Fox (11 am). Ohio State takes on Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff National Championship.

Trump is calling today a "liberation day for America." The orders will bypass Congress to undo President Joe Biden's policies ranging from climate to diversity and inclusion in the federal workforce while carrying out Trump's campaign promises to secure the southern border, expand domestic energy production and target transgender Americans.