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

3. The Irish avoid a conference championship

I know what you’re thinking, doesn’t an absence from a conference championship game hurt Notre Dame? Well, the answer is both yes and no. Yes, the Irish are potentially missing out on a way to boost their standing with the selection committee, but there are always two sides to questions like this.

Let’s take a look at some hypotheticals. The most logical conference for the Irish to join at this point would be the ACC. As it stands right now, the Irish would face either Clemson or Miami at a neutral site in North Carolina. After seeing how the Irish fared against the latter, how likely is it that they take down either Clemson or Miami regardless of location?

While the ACC is admittedly a tough conference, there isn’t a good chance that the Irish would fare much better against the heads of any other conference. For example, the Irish would likely play Oklahoma in the Big 12, Ohio State/Wisconsin in the Big 10, or Georgia/Alabama in the SEC. The one exception would be a mediocre Pac-12 that would currently offer either Washington State or USC.

While the Irish have played well against top 25 competition this season, their loss to Miami highlighted many weaknesses that most of the teams listed above would’ve easily taken advantage of. The best bet for the Irish is to win their next two games and hope they emerge within the top four in the midst of the chaos that is sure to ensue on championship weekend.