Notre Dame football: Irish at 11-1 would be an incredible accomplishment
By Brad Weiss
The Notre Dame football team has a chance to finish the 2021 regular season with an 11-1 record, which would be an incredible accomplishment.
The Notre Dame football team looked more like a .500 team throughout the beginning weeks of the season, barely beating Florida State in Week 1, and then struggling against the likes of Toledo and Purdue. The loss to Cincinnati could have been a death nail with the way the team was playing, but instead, they regrouped to beat Virginia Tech on the road before heading into the bye week.
After the bye week, the Irish seemed to change, as they revamped the offensive line, and the defense started to look elite on a week-to-week basis. Incredibly, they have been looking elite without their most elite player, as Kyle Hamilton was injured during USC and has yet to return.
Overall, it has been a six-game winning streak since the loss to Cincinnati and based on strength of schedule, a 10-1 record going into the Stanford game is quite an accomplishment in itself. However, there are bigger fish to fry for this Notre Dame football team, including a season-ending game against Stanford on the road, and possibly so much more.
Notre Dame football headed to the CFP?
Going into their regular-season finale, the Irish are suddenly very much alive in the College Football Playoff race, and if Michigan loses to Ohio State this week, they have a chance to be in the top-5. Of course, for it all to play out the way Notre Dame needs it to, Georgia would have to beat Alabama in the SEC title game, sending them to their second loss of the season.
We have a long way to go before that is to happen, so for now, the focus should be on Stanford, and finishing the regular season with a stellar 11-1 record.
Overall, this run has turned a lot of heads, and with the way they are dominating on both sides of the ball, the Irish are a team nobody should be looking forward to playing. After losing so many players to the NFL, and starting so slowly, to finish 11-1 would be an incredible accomplishment for these players, and the coaching staff.