College Football Playoff projections 2018: Notre Dame barely hanging on

SOUTH BEND, IN - OCTOBER 13: Miles Boykin #81 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish reacts with Chris Finke #10 after scoring the touchdown to take the lead against the Pittsburgh Panthers in the second half at Notre Dame Stadium on October 13, 2018 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images) /

2 of 5

SOUTH BEND, IN – OCTOBER 13: Ian Book #12 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish looks to pass the ball against the Pittsburgh Panthers at Notre Dame Stadium on October 13, 2018 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images) /

4. Notre Dame

Notre Dame painfully makes it in at No. 4. Barely squeaking out a home win against Pitt is not exemplary of a College Football Playoff kind of team. But frankly, there isn’t really anyone else who is undefeated and deserving of a playoff spot. Yes, UCF, but they had just as bad of a week as the Irish.

However, it is not unusual for Notre Dame to drop a game towards the latter part of the season to disappoint everyone. For example, last season’s 41-8 loss at Miami. But maybe this 19-14 win against Pitt was the Irish’s bad game of the year? And now it will be smooth sailing for the rest of the season.

Notre Dame quarterback, Ian Book, had look astounding thus far into the season before this week. Against Pitt, Book still completed 81 percent of his passes, but of the six unsuccessful passes, two of them were intercepted.

The Irish will need to clean up these turnovers in order to stay in playoff contention. Next week is a bye, which will allow Brian Kelly’s squad to rest before making the final push in the regular season.

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