10 ways Notre Dame Football can make it back to the CFP

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

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - JANUARY 01: Ian Book #12 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish snaps the ball against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the second quarter in the 2021 College Football Playoff Semifinal Game at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Capital One at AT&T Stadium on January 01, 2021 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

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Notre Dame Football. (Photo by Matt Cashore-Pool/Getty Images) /

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

7. Win Big Games Mentally

When Notre Dame Football finally beat Clemson last November, it seemed they were over the hump. Brian Kelly got the big game monkey, more like a gorilla, off his back. Then the ACC Championship Game came, and then the Rose Bowl that played the part of a CFP semifinal.

After two blowout losses, the monkey is back, and to this day, Kelly hasn’t won a major postseason game at Notre Dame, and all three unbeaten regular seasons ended in blowout losses in the postseason.

It’s like the team walks into games, and plays down to opponents, like Duke and Louisville last season, but struggles to punch up in big games. It’s a difficult spot, but the mentality needs to change going into games.

Notre Dame needs to blowout lesser opponents, and go into games with great opponents expecting to win. Those two things go together. It’s about confidence, and if they start going into big games against teams like Clemson, or CFP opponents like Alabama, and expect to win they will be in much better shape.

As it stands now, they go in hoping to keep it close. That’s not good enough.

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