Penn State head coach James Franklin poked the bear on Wednesday when he suggested his opponent in Thursday night's College Football Playoff semifinal matchup, Notre Dame, should join a conference. "This is no knock to Notre Dame, but I think everyone should be in a conference," Franklin said. "Things need to be consistent."

Now that the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff is down to four teams remaining — the size of the field the previous 10 seasons — things really don’t look that much different.

The teams in this year's College Football Playoff semifinals all have something in common: they're all among the sport's elite, but are also all attempting to return to the sport's pinnacle for the first time in quite a while.

Here is what you need to know about the remaining College Football Playoff games. College Football Playoff teams. This college football season was the first with the expanded 12-t