That the Notre Dame football team is likely a playoff team in 2026 is hardly a surprise. It’s also not a point on which there is much debate. The only disagreements are how the Fighting Irish will get into the field, what seed they’ll be once they get there, and who they might play. The path they’ll take once they get there is also up for debate, but considering the season hasn’t even started, it’s also not one that will bear much fruit beyond blind guessing.
One of the newer voices to enter the conversation is Pick Six Previews’ Brett Ciancia, who released his 2026 preview magazine earlier this week. While some of his predictions were more of the same in the form of predicting that the Irish will indeed make the playoffs, his projected first-round opponent would be a welcome sight.
Ciancia believes that Notre Dame will not get a first-round bye. In other words, despite ranking them as the No. 4 team in his preseason list, they won’t get one of the top four seeds in the College Football Playoff. That an Irish squad who could very well go 12-0 won’t also get a double bye offers a hefty bone to pick. However, it’s the Pick Six Preview prediction that Marcus Freeman and Co. will face off against USC in South Bend for the first-round game that should have fans drooling.
Should that game come to pass, it would also be a rather hilarious spoonful of bad medicine for the Trojans, who have done everything in their power to no longer play the Irish after the two teams were engaged in one of the longest-running rivalries in the sport.
Notre Dame football’s playoff path could bring USC back to South Bend
Of course, if Lincoln Riley’s squad does make the playoffs, it would mean their plan to take Notre Dame off the schedule and then make the playoffs panned out. This coming season, USC replaced the Irish with San Jose State.
Ciancia believes that this winter both the Big Ten and the SEC will get four teams each, and USC would be that fourth B1G squad. The celebrations wouldn’t be that big once they realized they'd have to travel to a place they rarely win in the first round of the CFP.
Considering how often Notre Dame has made it clear they wanted to keep the rivalry going, only to be rebuffed by a program looking to make its resume easier, the Irish would have to be looking on with glee if this prediction comes to pass. When it comes to believing how likely it would indeed come to pass, one need only keep in mind that Pick Six Previews has been rated as the most accurate pre-season prognosticator on the market in recent years.
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