Notre Dame Football: It would take a miracle for Irish to make CFB Playoff
By Dana Becker
Saturday night’s crushing loss to Miami leaves Notre Dame football well on the outside of the College Football Playoff radar.
More: 5 overreactions to Notre Dame’s loss to Miami
Remember, late-November is approaching and these are the Irish we are talking about. Notre Dame fell in the latest rankings, but they remain one of the top two-loss teams in the field. They can still point to a huge win over Southern Cal, who could end up being the Pac-12 champions, along with possible resume-builders over the final two weeks vs. Navy and Stanford.
For the sake of argument purposes, let us say Notre Dame goes and handles both the Midshipmen and Cardinal with relative ease, stopping the run and coming out at the end of the month with a record of 10-2. One of those losses came to Georgia by a single point earlier this year.
Yes, the Bulldogs were blitzed by Auburn, but they are still going to play either Alabama or get a rematch with the Tigers in December for the SEC title. Again, for the sake of argument, what happens if Georgia runs the table and tops either of those two teams in the championship? That likely puts them back in the Top-4 and makes that one-point loss Notre Dame suffered look a little better.
So you’re saying there’s a chance
Picture this. Clemson falls to South Carolina in the final week of the regular season, but rebounds with a win over the Hurricanes in the ACC title-game. That loss to the Gamecocks would bump the Tigers out, and Clemson’s win would do the same to Miami.
As for the Big Ten, they are dropped from consideration after Ohio State loses to Michigan, but rebounds to throttle Wisconsin in the league championship game. What do we have left? The SEC winner in Georgia, the Big 12 champion in Oklahoma, Notre Dame and either USC, Alabama or some other random team.
Next: Latest 2018 NFL Mock Draft entering Week 11
There you have it, Irish fans, a sure-fire way for Notre Dame to be competing for the national title once more. Sound like a reach? That’s because it would take a minor miracle for the Irish to find their way back into the top four. It’s not impossible, but there’s no way to sugarcoat it. Notre Dame blew a big opportunity against Miami on Saturday.