Notre Dame football playoff road projected by two publications
It would be an understatement to say that there is a lot of excitement around the Notre Dame football team this fall. With the expanded playoffs, it’s expected that the Irish will absolutely have a legitimate chance to compete for a national title.
Now that we’re getting closer to the regular season the dust is settling after the spring practice period, and the transfer portal closing more and more analysts are thinking they know the road that the Fighting Irish are going to take once they get to the playoffs.
One thing that adds to the thrill of the upcoming season is the unpredictability of the playoff matchups. Projections may vary, but one thing is for sure-the excitement is building as we await the new 12-team playoff format. One analyst believed the Irish would play Michigan in the first round. Two new projections have different paths.
Notre Dame football on the road to the playoffs with different paths
Two more publications have come out with their own predictions of where Notre Dame football is going to go and who they’re going to have to go through in the first round.
Notre Dame football has earned impressive preseason rankings, with Lindy's Sports placing the Fighting Irish at No. 8 and Athlon Sports at No. 9. Both publications project Notre Dame to make the playoffs, with the added excitement of potentially traveling for the first round.
Lindy's has the Fighting Irish heading to Ole Miss to take on the Rebels in the first round. Notre Dame is the 10-seed while the Rebels are the 7-seed.
The rest of the matchups are #5 Texas Longhorns vs. #12 Liberty Flames, #6 Oregon Ducks vs #11 Missouri Tigers, and #8 Michigan Wolverines vs #9 Alabama Crimson Tide. The winners of those games will have to take on the top 4 seeds who are #1 Georgia, #2 Ohio State, #3 Florida State and #4 Oklahoma State.
Athlon Sports on the other hand has the Notre Dame football team headed down to Texas to take on the Longhorns in the first round. Notre Dame is a slightly lower 11-seed while Texas is the 6-seed.
That publication also has a similar but slightly different top 4 seeds. #1 Georgia, #2 Ohio State, #3 Florida State, and #4 Utah. The other first round playoff matchups are thus:
- #5 Oregon vs #12 Liberty
- #7 Ole Miss vs #10 Penn State
- #8 Alabama vs #9 Michigan
Now we just wait to see if Notre Dame football goes to the playoffs at all and just how close these projections end up being.