CFP Won't Change 2025 Semifinal Bracket Schedule After Sugar Bowl Postponement

Despite the postponement of the Sugar Bowl by one day, no changes will be made to the College Football Playoff's semifinal schedule.

CFP executive director Rich Clark broke the news to ESPN's Heather Dinich on Friday, saying:

"We're not going to flip the games. The concession we made with the athletic directors was to start the Sugar Bowl earlier—an 18-hour or so delay. We slipped the game 18 hours to ensure we could provide safety and security for teams, coaches, staffs, fans and others involved. NOLA and Sugar Bowl officials were amazing."

The Sugar Bowl CFP quarterfinal between Notre Dame and Georgia was originally scheduled for Wednesday at 8:45 p.m. ET, but it was moved to Thursday at 4 p.m. ET after a suspect drove a pickup truck into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans during the early morning hours of New Year's Day, killing 15 people and injuring many others.

Seventh-seeded Notre Dame defeated No. 2 Georgia 23-10 to move on to the CFP semifinals where it will face Penn State at the Orange Bowl on Jan. 9. The other semifinal between Ohio State and Texas will be played one day later at the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey was the first to publicly raise concerns regarding the quick turnaround time between the Sugar Bowl and the Orange Bowl, telling ESPN's Paul Finebaum (h/t Dinich) on Thursday:

"I recognize that's difficult. I don't know if it is impossible. I raised that [Wednesday] and the focus quickly became today's kickoff, today's game and we'll see what happens.

"This is not an SEC-related issue, it's for both teams,. I also know that the communities have dates, they have plans, there are stadium availability issues that can arise. What I've not heard back from anybody after having asked the question is really directly a yes or no answer to the question I asked."

Clark explained the decision to keep the schedule as it is, noting that the other semifinal teams and their fans have already made arrangements.

Penn State will have a clear rest advantage over Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl since the Nittany Lions played their quarterfinal game Tuesday night on New Year's Eve, beating Boise State 31-14 in the Fiesta Bowl.

The Orange Bowl will take place nine days since Penn State's last game, whereas Notre Dame will have a more typical six days between games.

Extra rest won't necessarily be a good thing for Penn State, though, if the CFP is any indication.

Each of the four teams that received a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff lost in the quarterfinals, as Oregon, Arizona State, Boise State and Georgia all fell.

All four of them came out flat as well, which suggests the long layoff may have gotten them out of rhythm and contributed to their losses.

Those teams were off for multiple weeks before the quarterfinal games, though, which is in stark contrast to the nine-day break Penn State will have.

Neither Notre Dame nor Penn State has won a national title during the CFP era, but one of them is guaranteed to play for one with the winner of the Orange Bowl moving on to face either Ohio State or Texas in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Jan. 20.