Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-0)
Remaining Schedule: vs. Navy | at Northwestern | vs. Florida State | vs. Syracuse | at USC
There have truthfully been two iterations of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish after seven weeks of the 2018 college football season. There was the version at the start of the year with Brandon Wimbush in as the starting quarterback that made upset scares a bit of a concerning habit. However, the last four weeks have seen Notre Dame look like a team rejuvenated by Ian Book starting at quarterback.
Regardless of whether or not it’s been Wimbush or Book under center for Brian Kelly’s team, they have taken care of quality competition this season. They topped Michigan in their season-opener, made it past a good Vanderbilt team, then toppled Stanford and Virginia Tech handily in back-to-back weeks.
However, Week 7 was a bit of a scare for the Fighting Irish brought them a scare. With most people looking at their remaining schedule and thinking that they would be able to go on cruise control throughout the rest of the 2018 season, they needed a come-from-behind effort to top the mediocre Pittsburgh Panthers. That’s not exactly the most optimistic sign for this team that now has a sure-fire way into the College Football Playoff.
Even with that close effort against Pitt, I’m still of the belief that they are too quality and balanced on both sides of the ball to lose to anyone else left on their schedule. Having said that, I don’t believe that the Irish are at the same level as the other teams that will likely be in the CFP, meaning that they will lose, it just won’t be until the Playoff is underway.
First Loss: College Football Playoff