3. Notre Dame has an advantageous road to the playoff
An independent team has yet to be seen in the College Football Playoff, and by all means, Notre Dame can be a pioneer in that regard.
The same prospect was almost realized last season before the Irish were picked apart by Miami in a devastation loss. However, this year things appear to be playing out a little differently and the offense has become more dynamic with Ian Book at the helm.
Notre Dame has come out on the winning end in every game this season so far and shined in its most recent drubbing of Navy on Saturday.
As of now, the Irish have taken down three ranked opponents (at the time of the game) with wins against Michigan, Virginia Tech and Stanford.
Looking ahead in the schedule, Notre Dame currently has one ranked opponent looming with a matchup against a Syracuse team that gave Clemson a run for their money and knocked off NC State.
Outside of that, the Irish should only have to truly contend with Northwestern who is fresh off a win against Wisconsin.
Other than that, the Notre Dame-USC game has gone back-and-forth so it seems for the past few seasons. This year though, the Trojans shouldn’t pose a threat to the Irish as their two top quarterbacks on the depth chart have gone down with injuries.
Either way, Notre Dame is not only in the driver’s seat but has the ability to control its own destiny as long as it keeps winning.
I would find it difficult to make an argument against Notre Dame to qualify for a playoff spot if it were to remain unbeaten through the season even without a conference championship win –– especially when it is taken into consideration that three of its wins came against ranked teams.