College Football Playoff 2020: Simulating a 16-team bracket

16-team College Football Playoff first round: 4 Notre Dame vs. 13 North Carolina

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish went through the regular season, playing as a one-year-only member of the ACC, with a perfect record. That run for Brian Kelly’s team included a win over Clemson — albeit without Trevor Lawrence — and one over North Carolina as well. But in the ACC Championship Game, things changed a bit.

Clemson thrashed Notre Dame with the conference championship hanging in the balance. Part of that was undoubtedly the return of Lawrence to the lineup. However, it might’ve been even more important that the Tigers had a game plan to stop Ian Book and the Notre Dame offense with effectiveness and where they could attack the defense.

In the simplest terms, it’s difficult for any college football team to beat a quality opponent twice in one season. So as the Fighting Irish draw another game against the Tar Heels in the 16-team College Football Playoff, my money is going on Mack Brown to have an answer for the issues Notre Dame caused his team in the first matchup.

The truth is that all the Heels need to do is figure out how to generate offense for 60 minutes rather than just in the first half. With the talent on their roster, they have the horses to do that and can put pressure on Book to answer, which will be much harder facing a young but talented defense for the second time.

North Carolina wins, 31-23