Notre Dame football: Irish finish No. 5 in CFP ranking, miss Playoff
By Brad Weiss
The Notre Dame football team finished out their 2021 college football season at 11-1, but it was not enough to get into the College Football Playoff.
On Sunday afternoon, the College Football Playoff committee announced their four teams that will battle it out for the national title, which could have included the Notre Dame football team. However, due to the fact, Cincinnati held serve on Saturday, and with Alabama and Michigan winning, it was going to be nearly impossible for the Irish to get in.
When the four teams were announced, that became a reality, with the Irish on the outside looking in at the playoff. Early on in the season, there was no way anyone could have even thought the Irish would be in the conversation heading into the final ranking, but they grew as a team and ended up being one of the hottest teams in football to close the season.
In a week where we saw Brian Kelly resign to take the job at LSU, and Marcus Freeman get promoted to head coach, the hope was that the Irish would cap the week with a CFP berth. Unfortunately, that did not happen.
Notre Dame football finishes at No. 5
In the end, the Notre Dame football team finished the year No. 5 in the College Football Playoff ranking, not the result they wanted, but a fantastic result still the same. This is a program that lost 14 players to the NFL this offseason and had major question marks on both sides of the ball, but they started to play their best football down the stretch.
In fact, they went three straight games without allowing a touchdown and capped the year by pummeling rival Stanford on the road. After Oklahoma State lost early Saturday, they had a near 60 percent chance of making the Playoff, but Michigan and Alabama were able to take care of business.
The Irish will now look to their bowl game, as Marcus Freeman takes over as the head coach of the most storied program in college football. The future is certainly bright in South Bend and based on the coaches and players, you can be sure that the Irish will be back in the mix for a possible CFP berth next season.