Notre Dame Football: 3 takeaways from playoff-clinching win over USC

1. The Irish are playoff bound

With the threat of USC now behind them, the Irish have finished the regular season undefeated for the first time since 2012. While it wasn’t always pretty, the Irish are now in prime position for the program’s first ever College Football Playoff berth.

Given Kelly’s struggles throughout the month of November, making it through this season’s schedule was no easy task regardless of the way in which Notre Dame’s opponents fell off. While this won’t necessarily be valued by the selection committee, it is a testament to the difference between this Notre Dame team and the ones that have gone before it.

While the Michigan loss hurts on one front, it also clears some space for those who the committee may value just behind Notre Dame. There will be no more Michigan over Notre Dame conversations and the hypothetical Alabama loss looks less intimidating. The Irish were firmly rooted at the three spot prior to this weekend, so don’t expect much to change here.

All things considered, this is one of the most complete teams we’ve seen over the course of Brian Kelly’s time with the Irish. There’s no telling what’s going to happen when the College Football Playoff roles around, but it’s bound to be fun.