Notre Dame still has a path to the College Football Playoff after loss to NIU

Another year, another heartbreaking loss for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. After coming off a huge road win at Texas A&M in Week 1 the Irish shockingly fell at home to Northern Illinois in the biggest college football upset in recent memory.

The biggest thing when looking at this loss and its effect is that we have no precedent to compare it to in terms of how it will hurt playoff chances. In the past with the 4 team playoff it surely would have eliminated the Irish, but now in the first year with the 12 team format things are a bit murky. 

What we do know is a loss like this is much more detrimental to Notre Dame though as they do not get the luxury of receiving a conference champion automatic bid due to them being an Independent.

While Irish fans are all down in the dumps, and rightfully so, I would argue that there is still a path to the College Football Playoff for them.

How can Notre Dame still make the College Football Playoff?

First of all Notre Dame needs to prove that what happened on Saturday in South Bend was a huge fluke.  With an “easier” schedule they will need to come out and not just win, but do so in an impressive fashion. 

The biggest weight in achieving this falls on the shoulders of quarterback Riley Leonard. So far Leonard has not been what Irish fans were hoping for. Through two games he has not thrown a single touchdown pass and only racked up 321 passing yards. 

The defense should be fine but if the Irish want to show they are playoff worthy, they need to improve on the offensive side of the ball, starting with Riley Leonard.

Notre Dame could also use some help from their future opponents to build their playoff resume. (Funny how this now feels like March Madness with who gets in, bubble teams, resumes, etc.) 

With one of the worst preseason strength of schedule ratings compared to power conference teams, Notre Dame does not have many chances to get marquee or “resume building” wins. While this appears to be the case right now, that can change. Enter Louisville and USC. 

Louisville is currently ranked No.17, but if they enter Week 5 undefeated we could be looking at a top-15 matchup against Notre Dame. 

USC looked good in Week 1 against LSU and currently sits at No. 11, but they have a tough Big Ten schedule ahead. Notre Dame fans should be rooting for the Trojans just as hard as they are for their own team hoping that they enter the last week of the season highly ranked. This would give the Irish the chance to get a statement win in what could possibly be a “win and in” game for each team.

Lastly Notre Dame can use some help from the ones who broke their hearts in the first place, the Northern Illinois Huskies. 

Best case scenario for the Irish is that NIU wins out the rest of the way, wins the MAC, and ends the season ranked and possibly even competing for the Group of Five playoff spot. While we all laughed at the loss on Saturday, it would not look as bad if this is how things play out.

Now it’s never good to rely on others to control your fate, especially when it comes to the playoff, but the Fighting Irish may not be fully out yet and some help from others would not hurt. A path to the playoff is still there, but it all starts with Notre Dame. If they don't take care of business themselves, nothing else will matter and they can kiss a playoff berth goodbye.