10 ways Notre Dame Football can make it back to the College Football Playoff

10 ways Notre Dame Football can make it back to the College Football Playoff

1. Recruit at an Elite Level

The most important thing for Notre Dame FOotball to do so they can make the CFP, not just in 2021 but going forward in general, is to recruit at an elite level. As of right now, Notre Dame recruits at a very good level, however, they’re a step off from elite level recruiting, which is usually designated as the top 5-10 teams in terms of recruiting rankings, though it is also often limited to the top-6 or so.

Usually, the only teams who are consistently included in this group are Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State. Georgia, LSU, Texas, and Oklahoma among others are sometimes in this group, but not consistently.

As for Notre Dame, they finished the 2021 recruiting class ranked 9th according to the 24/7 recruiting rankings. In 2020, they were 18th. That’s simply not good enough if you want to win a National Championship or even reach the College Football Playoff.

Now, none of this is to say that you can’t find good or even great players in a top-20 class. Notre Dame’s 15th ranked recruiting class in 2016 produced players like Liam Eichenberg and Chase Claypool, not to mention Ian Book and several other great Irish players.

This group managed to make the CFP twice but also got blown out twice. Where is the gap in making those games and winning them? What prevents Notre Dame from having years where they take a step back, like they did in 2019 and many expect will happen again in 2021?

An elite recruiting class may not provide more standout players individually, but what they provide is depth. as Notre Dame Football didn’t have an answer when Julian Love went down in the Cotton Bowl against Clemson. If they had elite recruiting classes, they’d likely have had the depth to not see a major drop off in talent when injuries occur or have to worry about not having enough returning talent.

It may seem like a small jump, but getting over that final recruiting hump is vital to the Irish making the College Football Playoff consistently.