Notre Dame fans are outraged the Fighting Irish were left out of the College Football Playoff, and they're demanding the system they say is flawed be fixed immediately ... and Kirk Herbstreit may just have the answer!

Broaden the field.

"I think the only way it gets fixed is you gotta expand. You gotta go to probably 16 [teams]," the college and pro football analyst told TMZ Sports on Tuesday.

The field currently consists of 12 teams ... but Kirk thinks adding four squads is the way to go moving forward.

Herbstreit also addressed the "Group of 5" -- five non-Power 4 conferences -- consisting of the American Athletic (AAC), Conference USA (C-USA), Mid-American (MAC), Mountain West, and Sun Belt conferences, which are currently guaranteed one bid.

He believes that's got to change.

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