Notre Dame Football: 5 reasons Irish can still make College Football Playoff

5. The Irish might not drop as much as you’d think

Much of the Irish’s chances at making a late comeback into the playoff hinge on a relatively low drop in the rankings. One of the few things going for Notre Dame can be found in the latest AP poll. Week 10’s AP poll had the Irish at fifth in the nation, following Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, and Wisconsin. However, Week 10’s CFP rankings had the Irish at third, a two-spot discrepancy.

The AP poll now has the Irish dropping six spots, falling from a third place ranking in Week 11 down to ninth. With the AP poll valuing the Irish a little less than the CFP rankings, it would be reasonable enough to expect the Irish to fall a matter of only four or five spots.

While such a short fall would likely require the Irish to either jump Georgia or stay above Ohio State, there are certainly cases to be made for each of those scenarios. As for Georgia, they do hold a 20-19 victory over the heads of the Irish. On the other hand, while both were blown out Saturday, Notre Dame’s loss did come to an opponent ranked three spots higher than Georgia’s.

The Irish also have a solid case against the Buckeyes as their sixth overall strength of schedule ranking is greatly superior to that of Ohio State who come in at 35th. Both Ohio State losses have also been by fairly large margins, falling to Oklahoma and Iowa by scores of 31-16 and 55-24. A drop of only four or five spots would give the Irish a huge advantage in inching back to the playoff.