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Notre Dame Football: The Irish could use a little chaos

By Ryan Palmeri

SOUTH BEND, IN - OCTOBER 12: Head coach Brian Kelly of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish looks on against the USC Trojans in the second half of the game at Notre Dame Stadium on October 12, 2019 in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame defeated USC 30-27. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
SOUTH BEND, IN - OCTOBER 12: Head coach Brian Kelly of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish looks on against the USC Trojans in the second half of the game at Notre Dame Stadium on October 12, 2019 in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame defeated USC 30-27. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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Despite the loss to Georgia, Notre Dame football was still a very real option for the playoff. But week seven rolled through and just about ruined everything.

Georgia lost to South Carolina, Michigan struggled with Illinois and Virginia lost to Miami. USC came to town with losses against BYU and Washington, so they have already lost respect as well. During the preseason, this schedule looked like it would be difficult again, but of course, Notre Dame football has to fight an uphill battle.

So with a loss and a host of undefeated teams ahead of them in the polls, Notre Dame will need some help. Their strength of schedule is falling fast and the remaining teams on it offer very little help for a playoff push.

Notre Dame can’t afford to play sloppy or let a team like Duke hang around. The SEC may get credit for playing terrible in-conference teams like Arkansas, but Notre Dame won’t be given any slack.

The Schedule Ahead

The win over USC was a nice boost for team moral and Michigan is coming up off the bye week. Michigan still has Notre Dame, Penn State and Ohio State on the schedule, so they will likely drop at least two of those games.

Looking past Michigan is the likes of Virginia Tech, Duke, Stanford, Boston College and Navy. Most of those teams all have something in common and it is similar to USC. They are bad teams, but they have the ability to catch Notre Dame slipping. There is no reason that Notre Dame should lose a game the rest of the year, but they can’t afford a Pitt performance from 2018 either. It still seems like a long shot, but Notre Dame does have a benefit that the rest of the country hates.

Conference Championships

While Notre Dame can’t do anything about their overall lackluster schedule, they do have a major benefit. Everyone pointing to a conference championship holding Notre Dame back needs to look at the other side of it. Oklahoma and Texas, Ohio State and Wisconsin, Alabama and Georgia, Clemson and a glorified D3 team. Most of the top 10 will likely have to play each other in their conference championship.

Notre Dame going 11-1 and coming off a win against Stanford gets to sit at home and rest while everyone else beats up on each other. Wisconsin has Ohio State and Iowa left in the regular season, while Alabama has LSU and Auburn.

I’m mentioning all of this to point out how weird college football is. Georgia was predicted to dethrone Alabama and they lose to South Carolina. Wisconsin isn’t letting anyone score a point but could get caught by Minnesota.

Next. You second half rooting guide. dark

Notre Dame football needs some help to get into the playoff. Thankfully they lost in late September instead of late November. Their schedule is shaping up to look pretty horrid again, so a little chaos is needed for Notre Dame to make a playoff push. However, a little chaos is always right around the corner in college football.

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