Notre Dame football getting Natty love in CFB bracket predictions

With an early season loss to Northern Illinois, it’s not hard to understand why some people don’t believe the Notre Dame football team should be in the playoffs. However, now that the Irish are indeed there and hosting a playoff game, it seems like more and more analysts believe there’s a very good chance they could win the whole thing. Or at least get to the championship game.

Now that the playoff field is officially out, there have been more than a few people who have put their bracket predictions out there. And surprisingly enough, several of them have the Irish doing quite well.

It doesn’t hurt that the Notre Dame football team’s road to the semifinals changed quite a bit with the news that Georgia starting quarterback Carson Beck likely will miss the playoffs. And that might be one of the reasons that Tom Fornelli among others has Marcus Freeman’s team going to the title game. And once they get there, it’s all about winning just one more game.

Notre Dame football picked to contend for the title

Fornelli posted his bracket picks for the College Football Playoffs and he has the Irish getting by the Indiana Hoosiers in the first round. He also has Penn State dispatching SMU and Texas taking out Clemson. He has the Tennessee Volunteers as the only upset in the first round.

He’s got more upsets slated for the second round as he thinks 7th seeded Notre Dame will beat 2nd seeded Georgia, No. 6 seed Penn State beating No. 3 seeded Boise State and 5th seeded Texas will beat 4th seeded Arizona State. The only higher seed holding serve in this scenario is Oregon.

Fornelli then has the Blue and Gold dispatching the Blue and White of Penn State while Oregon beats Texas and that means the Notre Dame football team will face off against the Ducks in the National Title Game. Then it’s about pulling off an upset by holding down one of the nation’s most explosive offenses. As it happens, the Irish are uniquely suited to do just that.