Since the beginning of the season, many felt that Notre Dame would be a lock for the College Football Playoff at the end of the year, especially after making it to the National Championship last season. However, some of those thoughts really changed when the Fighting Irish started out 2025 with two losses.
While the losses were not ideal, it was best that they came so early in the season and gave Notre Dame the ability to win 10 straight games to finish out the regular season. However, those two losses have hurt their spot in the College Football Playoff.
In the first rankings, the Irish came in ranked No. 10 and after that moved to No. 9, where they have not budged since. With the final rankings release before the bracket reveal coming out Tuesday night, here is the latest prediction on where Notre Dame will fall.
Notre Dame has met its ceiling in College Football Playoff Rankings
Unfortunately, this prediction may not make Irish fans very happy, as it feels like there is just no way Notre Dame is going to move any higher than No. 9 in the rankings. Right now, there is only one other two-loss team in front of the Irish, and that is Oklahoma, which recently had a big upset win over No. 4 Alabama, which vaulted the Sooners into the playoff field.
With the two losses that Notre Dame suffered against Miami and Texas A&M, who are both teams in the Top 25, the selection committee just will not budge on Notre Dame's spot. Even when the Irish have completely demolished opponents, including a ranked Pitt team a few weeks ago,
The reason this really won't make Fighting Irish fans happy is that at No. 9, Notre Dame will have to hit the road for the College Football Playoff instead of getting to host a game in South Bend this year. Last season, Notre Dame got to stay at home for the CFP, but they will have a bit of a tougher road and will probably end up heading either somewhere in the SEC or in the Big Ten.