Notre Dame, meanwhile, hasn't been quite as dominant in these playoffs, but it doesn't matter how you get the win after all.

No major college football team — what we now call the FBS level — had played a 16-game season since Yale in 1894. Until now.

Notre Dame is heading to Atlanta to compete in the College Football Playoff national championship game after a thrilling, last-second 27-24 victory against Penn State in the Orange Bowl. The Irish ...