2 reasons Notre Dame returns to College Football Playoff this year
By John Buhler
Brian Kelly’s Notre Dame football team sure knows how to get into the College Football Playoff.
While everybody and their brother is crossing off the Notre Dame football team when it comes to getting back into the College Football Playoff this year, the Fighting Irish could actually make the four-team field for the third time in four years this season.
Notre Dame first made the playoff in 2018 as an undefeated national independent. Though the Irish got destroyed by Clemson, they would get their revenge two years later.
By playing as an ACC team a year ago, the Irish punched their tickets in by navigating its regular-season schedule to perfection, so it did not matter what happened in the second Clemson game.
It sounds crazy after so much roster turnover and a challenging schedule, but here are two reasons Notre Dame can return to the playoff this year.
Notre Dame football: 2 reasons why Fighting Irish can return to playoff
2. Brian Kelly has navigated a perfect regular season three times at Notre Dame
For most teams, asking them to navigate a regular season to perfection just to make the playoff is a tall task, but not for Notre Dame. Since Brian Kelly took over in South Bend, he has done that three times. The 2012 Irish went 12-0 to reach the BCS National Championship Game. Notre Dame did not suffer a loss in the 2018 or 2020 campaigns until a championship setting either.
What this comes down to is Kelly and his program firmly understands there is no margin for error to play for a national championship in the College Football Playoff era at Notre Dame. The athletic department does a fantastic job of scheduling 12 compelling games every single season, with the help of the ACC and a few other traditional football rivals like Navy, Stanford and USC, of course.
Few programs can demand perfection and really mean it like Notre Dame can. The Irish have been a top-five or six program throughout the College Football Playoff era. With so many other playoff hopefuls having uncertainty at the quarterback position, maybe the Notre Dame football culture can propel them as the ultimate dark horse this year? It is not probable, but is still is very possible.
As long as Kelly is their head coach, the Fighting Irish will remain a College Football Playoff threat.