College Football Playoff: How a 16-team bracket would play out

3. Notre Dame vs. 11. LSU

Despite all of the talk that has circulated about the Notre Dame Fighting Irish being overrated and even the chatter of the Gold-Domers not deserving to be in the actual College Football Playoff, I stand by Brian Kelly’s team and their quality. When they are playing at their best, this is a team with enough talent on both sides of the football to compete with any other team in the country.

Where you can criticize this Notre Dame team, however, is in regards to the consistency of which they play to their potential. In numerous games throughout the season, both with Brandon Wimbush and Ian Book starting at quarterback, this Fighting Irish team has found themselves in tight games with teams that they are simply better than because they’ve had a letdown on the field in terms of effort and performance.

That’s not to say this would surely happen against the LSU Tigers, but this is the type of team that could force them into that. This LSU defense is one of the best in the country, which would set up quite a fantastic matchup against the likes of Book, Dexter Williams and this vaunted Notre Dame offensive line. What’s more, it’d be interesting to see how LSU’s inconsistent offense of their own would fare against the Irish’s strong defensive unit.

Frankly, both teams would make big offensive mistakes in this matchup. Having said that, I trust Ed Orgeron in a tight game making decisions much more than I do Kelly. With that and the belief in the playmakers on the Tigers’ defense to come up big late, LSU pulls off another upset to advance to the semifinals.

Prediction: Notre Dame 23, LSU 24