With the Notre Dame football team ranked No. 13 in the latest AP Top 25 and No. 15 in the coaches poll, the Irish are moving right back into "solidly in" for the College Football Playoffs. In fact, it's not even that they might get in. At this point, Marcus Freeman and company are not even in doubt, at least according to the latest projections from one publication.
For the second straight year, there were plenty of people who thought the Fighting Irish were dead in the water after their second game of the season. Last year, it was a loss to Northern Illinois that supposedly did it. This year, it was back-to-back losses to Miami and Texas A&M.
Notre Dame football climbs into playoff projection with room to spare
Our latest projection-based College Football Playoff bracket is up. Notre Dame checks in as the No. 8 seed, hosting No. 9 Georgia in the first round. Our model gives the Irish a 65% chance to make the 12-team field.https://t.co/Hlfac3Ye8d
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) October 12, 2025
However, a funny thing happened on the way to Week 8 of the college football season. Notre Dame rattled off four straight blowout wins and has a schedule it should be able to sweep in the second half of 2025. Now, The Athletic has the Irish firmly in the College Football Playoffs field as the No. 8 seed.
The publication also gives ND a 65% chance of making the 12-team field, and for now, should they make it, they're expected to face a rematch of last year's Sugar Bowl against Georgia. Should Freeman's squad win that game, top-seeded Ohio State is waiting in the second round.
The tidbit that sticks out the most from The Athletic's model is that the Notre Dame football team doesn't need to win out in order to make the CFP. Its model has the Irish finishing 9-3 and still getting the No. 8 seed. If a third loss is in the offing this year, it stands to reason it would be this week, when the team takes on USC on Saturday night.