The College Football Playoff could be on the verge of some Power Four conference chaos.

Gary Stokan, president and CEO of the Peach Bowl, noted that each year, it seems there are a unique set of circumstances that make for unexpected twists.

Certainly the 2025 season has been no different,

It has been widely discussed how, if No. 11 BYU scores an upset win over No. 4 Texas Tech, the Cougars would jump in the rankings and knock out current No. 10 Notre Dame regardless of how No. 9 Alabama fares against Georgia in the SEC title game.

“I think Alabama is probably in even with a loss,” Stokan said. “You look at who they beat, Georgia, at Georgia. They lost at Florida State, and they lost to a top-8 Oklahoma team.

“But you look at Alabama’s strength of schedule, strength of record, and their wins against Top 25 teams and compare that to Notre Dame.”

The Tide has the No. 11 strength of schedule — and that will improve playing No. 3 Georgia in the SEC title game. Notre Dame has the No. 42 strength of schedule and is idle.

Alabama also has the No. 8 strength of record, compared to the Irish’s No. 13 rank.

The Tide beat four teams that were ranked at the time they beat them with a marquee win at current No. 3 Georgia, while Notre Dame beat two teams ranked at the time they beat them, with their best win coming at home against current No. 16 USC.

With what’s at stake for the Irish on Saturday, it’s no wonder why Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman was upset his team fell a spot behind Alabama after it won at Stanford on Saturday night, 49-20, while the Tide slipped past Auburn, 27-20.

“We’re never always going to agree, especially when your program is the one that’s getting dropped after winning by 20-something points,” Freeman said in an NBC News interview.

“There are as many Notre Dame fans that are upset, including myself, as there’s going to be Alabama fans that are happy. I don’t always understand it, personally. I’m sure [the committee] gave a legitimate reason, but that doesn’t mean we agree.”

Notre Dame might also get excluded in the committee’s next set of rankings on account of BYU no longer being ranked between it and No. 12 Miami — essentially, serving as a buffer that essentially mitigated the head-to-head.

CFP selection committee chairman Hunter Yurachek, in explaining how Notre Dame could be ranked ahead of a Miami team that beat it head to head, shared how several teams were being compared in one pool.

“If we were just comparing Miami and Notre Dame side by side, it’s a little bit easier to use that (head-to-head) comparison,” Yurachek said on Tuesday night’s CFP conference call “But we’re not comparing Notre Dame and Miami side by side. “We’ve been comparing Alabama, Notre Dame, BYU and Miami collectively, and evaluating those teams and how they look.”

But with BYU on the verge of taking a leap up or falling down in the rankings, the Hurricanes and the Irish are in a potential side-by-side comparison.

Stokan also says the possibility of the ACC Power 4 conference getting shutout of the 12-team CFP field is not a stretch.

“The most interesting thing is in the ACC, where if Duke wins, you could have two Group of Five schools in the playoff,” Stokan said. “Those teams would be James Madison if it wins, and then the winner of the American Conference.”

The top-five ranked conference champions receive automatic bids, and then the next seven highest-ranked teams, as determined by the CFP selection committee, fill out the 12-team field.

To Stokan’s point, the 7-5 Duke team that’s playing No. 17-ranked Virginia at 8 p.m. on Saturday in Charlotte in the ACC championship game is only a 3.5-point underdog.

The Cavaliers beat the Blue Devils 34-17 some three weeks ago in what many suggested was their most complete game of the season.

If Duke wins, the CFP selection committee will have some big decisions to make before the final set of rankings comes out at noon on Sunday.

Duke was not ranked in the CFP Top 25 released on Tuesday, and the Blue Devils No. 45 Sagarin USA Today computer rank and No. 46 ESPN FPI rank does not measure up well.

“If Duke wins, they’d have to take them from out of nowhere ahead of what would be a 12-1 James Madison or ahead of the winner of the Tulane- North Texas game in the American (conference) championship game.”

Tulane (10-2) is No. 20 in the CFP poll, No. 55 in the Sagarin USA Today computer ranking and No. 57 in the ESPN FPI.

North Texas (11-1) is No. 24 in the CFP poll, No. 38 in the Sagarin USA Today computer ranking and No. 37 in the ESPN FPI

James Madison is No. 25 in the CFP poll, No. 28 in the Sagarin USA Today computer ranking and No. 28 in the ESPN FPI rankings.

Stokan said he believe the teams ranked in the top eight of the current CFP rankings have clinched a playoff spot.