Worst-case scenario: 7-5
Remember when I said Notre Dame’s schedule is kind of tough this year which would mean that an 11-1 finish would likely ensure a playoff berth? Yeah, well 7-5 is also possible with that slate.
I mean, for this to happen, everything would have to go wrong for the Irish.
First, the quarterback situation would have to be murky for the majority of the season with no one really stepping up to take the reins. The offense would have to struggle mightily and the defense would be average, at best, with Marcus Freeman taking over head coaching duties and leaving the defense up to Al Golden.
In this scenario, the Irish would begin the season with a pretty lopsided loss at Ohio State before returning home to beat Marshall and Cal. They’d then lose a tough one at North Carolina before a bye on Oct. 1.
This would lead to another loss against BYU in Las Vegas to drop the Irish to 2-3 overall and they’d eventually climb over .500 with three straight wins over Stanford, UNLV, and Syracuse. A loss to Clemson would be on the menu the following week before beating Navy and Boston College to improve to 7-4 before a season-ending loss to USC at the Coliseum.