Sports Illustrated cover projects Notre Dame to College Football Playoff

Sports Illustrated's big college football preview arrived on Wednesday, sporting four regional covers. The magazine projects Ohio State, Auburn, TCU and Notre Dame as the four playoff teams, giving three of those programs regional covers.

Three of those are common projections, but the Irish might be a surprise.

While overrating Notre Dame seems like a yearly tradition, it isn't actually that much of a reach. The Irish return 17 starters and look like a definite top-20 team, with a new quarterback leading a potentially dominant offense.

Notre Dame:

One for Ohio State:

And one for TCU:

The final regional cover went to Mississippi State and Dak Prescott, plus this dog.

Good dog.

★★★

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