Notre Dame Football: Week One is Pivotal to Plans of Both Notre Dame and Michigan
By Ben Belden
Notre Dame Football renews its rivalry with Michigan in Week One. While neither team needs extra motivation, a chance at the playoff may just provide it.
Notre Dame Football has participated in plenty of intriguing matchups with Michigan throughout the two schools’ rivalry. Their matchup on September 1st will be no different. Both the Irish and Wolverines are looking to take the “next step” in their respective pursuits of a National Championship. But how much does their week one game factor into each team’s pursuits?
A lot.
The Irish and Wolverines have similar paths to the College Football Playoff. Both paths hinge on what happens in just over four weeks.
After their opening week matchup, both the Irish and the Wolverines can circle three potential obstacles before a rivalry game that may serve as a play-in for the College Football Playoff. For the Irish, their season revolves around performances against Stanford (September 29), at Virginia Tech (October 6), and Florida State (November 10) before traveling to Southern California on November 24.
For the Wolverines, their season follows a similar trajectory. After their opening week battle with Notre Dame, the Wolverines face tough tasks in Wisconsin (October 13), at Michigan State (October 20), and Penn State (November 3) before heading to Columbus to face Ohio State.
That said, for both teams, week one is all the more important. For both Notre Dame and Michigan, a win and week one would set either team in the driver’s seat for the College Football Playoff. A win would mean that winning two out of three games against the team’s three biggest midseason obstacles would put both Brian Kelly and Jim Harbaugh in playoff contention during the last week of the regular season.
A loss, however, makes the uphill climb a little steeper. A loss would almost certainly mean that each team would have to run the table to make the playoff. With obstacles spread across the schedule, that’s a daunting task perhaps out of the realm of possibility for each team.
Next. Notre Dame Comes in at 11 in First Coaches Poll. dark
Proximity and a good ole’ fashioned rivalry is all the intrigue Notre Dame and Michigan need, but certainly no one will complain about an extra layer of excitement to the historic series.