Can Notre Dame still make the College Football Playoff?

The Case for Notre Dame to Make the College Football Playoff

The easiest path for the Irish to make the playoff (obviously) would have been to go undefeated. Going into Athens and defeating Georgia would have catapulted the Irish straight into the top 4, without a doubt. Notre Dame then would have still likely needed to finish undefeated, or maybe 11-1 gets them in depending on how that Georgia win would have been viewed by the end of the season.

But, that didn’t happen. So, how can Notre Dame make it now?

Well, it starts with what was mentioned above — rooting for Michigan this upcoming weekend against Penn State. As much as that may hurt for many of you Irish fans, a potential top-10 matchup vs. Michigan would be huge. Getting that win then would be paramount and would likely send ND up closer towards the top 4-5.

Next, the Irish need chaos. A lot of it.

While Georgia losing to South Carolina this past weekend may have diminished what looked to be as good of a loss as there is for the Irish, there is a bright side to them losing. Georgia losing makes the likelihood of the SEC getting two teams into the College Football Playoff very slim.

With Georgia losing, its best case scenario is now to go 11-1 with the rest of their schedule, which would be difficult, but possible. However, even if it does go 11-1, it will likely take on the winner of the SEC East, which will be Alabama or LSU barring any ridiculous upsets. Alabama and LSU are better than Georgia and would likely win that ballgame, then making Georgia 11-2 and out of the CFP race.

The aforementioned Alabama and LSU, however, square-off on Nov.9 — which will be a huge matchup in the grand scheme of the College Football Playoff landscape. The winner of that game is in, while the loser is out.

One spot gone.

That now leaves Ohio State, Clemson, Wisconsin and Oklahoma in Notre Dame’s path.

Much like the Alabama/LSU situation, Ohio State and Wisconsin will knock each other out. Ohio State and Wisconsin are facing off Oct.26, and the loser of that game will likely drop sharply in the polls. Then, again, it is very likely that Ohio State and Wisconsin will play each other again, as each team is leading their respective division of the B1G. If one team wins both, it is definitely in. If they split, both are (probably) out.

Oklahoma and Clemson both have cakewalks to the CFP, so hoping for one of them to lose may leave you disappointed.

So, while that seems like a lot, it is entirely possible that an 11-1 Notre Dame team makes the playoff — with some help. A recent article at thespun.com, actually gives the Irish a 49% to make it.

Have some confidence Irish fans — there is a lot of football left to be played.