Notre Dame football lost some luster with the Georgia defeat, but the Irish are still in the mix for a College Football Playoff berth should they finish strong.
The first month of the 2019 Notre Dame football season included two big tests: No. 3 Georgia and No. 18 Virginia. The Irish acquitted themselves well in both contests but fell a touchdown short of a win against the Bulldogs on the road. That the first regular-season loss for the Irish since they fell to the Stanford Cardinal in November of 2017.
It’s easy for the masses to overlook a no-longer-perfect Notre Dame team, but that doesn’t mean the College Football Playoff committee has written off the Irish. Nor should they. As much as last season’s Playoff debacle is hard to erase from memory, it has no bearing on what this team has the potential to earn in 2019.
Notre Dame is going to have run the table to stay in the conversation, but finishing out the season perfect would net them a nice collection of wins, USC and Michigan the most likely resume boosters. Then it will be time to compare notes. Notre Dame will have one respectable loss and, in theory, no significant slip-ups.
Ohio State has been known to lay an egg once a season. Alabama, LSU, Georgia and Auburn are going to beat each other up in one way or another. Should Clemson lose at all, their best victory could come over the same Virginia team which Notre Dame beat last Saturday.
The Irish know the task at hand. 11-1 is 11-1. If they can finish this season well they’re going to be in the conversation. At this point, that’s all the Irish faithful can hope for.