Notre Dame football playoff projections: Are they in or out?

There isn’t an opponent to worry about this week for the Notre Dame football team. The Fighting Irish have their final bye week of the regular season ahead. That means it’s time to focus on where ND really stands regarding playoff chances.

Of course, the actual playoff rankings won’t be released for another couple of weeks. But that doesn’t mean we can’t take a look at whether or not most talking heads in college football believe the Irish are headed to the postseason or a bowl game.

The good news for Notre Dame football is they’re ranked inside the Top 10 in both polls. That’s a nice start. So is a 7-1 record. So what do analysts see as realistic landing spot for the Blue and Gold?

Notre Dame football playoff projections: Are they in or out?

On3 analysts Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman have the Irish safely in. Both men have them as a No. 10 seed with one believing they’ll take on Penn State and the other predicting Tennessee.

ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura has Marcus Freeman’s group as a No.9 seed, traveling to Texas. Max Schlabach has them as an 11 seed heading to a rematch from the last two seasons against Ohio State.

Action Network’s Brett McMurphy believes Notre Dame will be a 10 seed. David Kenyon from Bleacher Report is the only one on this list that has them hosting a game vs. Miami. Erick Smith also has them headed to Texas while Athlon Sports’ Steve Lassan believes they’ll be a 9 seed headed to Clemson.

Finally, only Jerry Palm of CBS Sports believes the Notre Dame football team won’t make the playoffs at all. He’s had them headed to the Pop Tarts Bowl against TCU.