Notre Dame Football: 3 hot takes from huge road win over North Carolina

1. Notre Dame is a playoff lock

A top-five defense, one of the most underrated receivers, an elite running back and quarterback, Notre Dame has it all.

The Fighting Irish also have great coaching with Brian Kelly having one of the best stretches of his career after a forgetful 2016 campaign and it seems like he’s figured it all out. His players have bought in, he’s recruiting at an elite level and his “next man up” is always just as good as the predecessor.

Notre Dame’s offense is getting stronger with Ian Book playing arguably the best football of his career, adding 279 yards and a touchdown through the air against North Carolina, and the defense dominating one of the most prolific offenses in the ACC. I mean, how often do you see a team that averages well over 500 yards per game getting held to under 300? That’s wild.

The Fighting Irish are now 9-0 on the season with the road win over the No. 19 team in the country and they have two winnable regular season games left against Syracuse and Wake Forest. If they win those — they should 100 percent win both — they will be 11-0 before the ACC title game and a rematch with Clemson.

How do you keep an 11-1 Notre Dame team out of the playoff and put Clemson in when they are 1-1 against each other? You’re almost forced to take both.

This decision from the committee will be easier if Ohio State is ineligible due to not enough games played. Either way, I think Notre Dame has to be considered a lock for the playoff.

We may see an all-ACC/SEC playoff this year.