College football: 1 if-then conditional for every national championship contender

Notre Dame: If Jack Coan can lead a competent offense, then Notre Dame will be in the College Football Playoff picture again

Make no mistake, when you look at the 2021 Fighting Irish, there are two things they are going to hang their hats on: Defense and the rushing attack. Notre Dame boasts an elite defense anchored by stars like Kyle Hamilton. And the bevy of ball-carriers they have is an embarrassment of riches for the team to utilize.

While that may all be true, Brian Kelly’s team needs Wisconsin transfer Jack Coan to be good — not great, just good. Ian Book was not a perfect quarterback but he had a knack for playmaking that is hard to teach. With the Irish rebuilding their offensive line as well, they need Coan to show he can be that type of playmaker, even if lesser so, for Notre Dame to weather a tough schedule.

Cincinnati: If Cincinnati beats Notre Dame and Indiana, then the Bearcats will have the best CFP chance of any Group of 5 team

Some people maintain that there is no chance that a Group of 5 team will ever make it into the College Football Playoff. If there was ever a team that had that opportunity, though, it’s Luke Fickell’s Bearcats. Ranked No. 8 in the preseason poll and with two ranked opponents on the slate that are not in the Group of 5, Cincinnati has the best opportunity.

Yes, Desmond Ridder and Co. need to run through the AAC but they have the best roster in the conference bar none. Their ticket to actually contending for a top-four spot is to go to South Bend and Bloomington and knock off ranked opponents. If they do that while starting ranked inside the top 10, the door is slightly ajar for them to push into the Playoff.

Iowa State: If Brock Purdy finally takes the next step, then Iowa State can give the Sooners trouble again in the Big 12

With Brock Purdy, Breece Hall, Charlie Kolar and the Iowa State core all returning, people are buying into the fact that the Cyclones could take down Oklahoma in the Big 12. After all, they beat them in the regular season last year. But it’s not that simple. Not only did they catch the Sooners early in the year when they were still trying to click but this team was not infallible last year.

Iowa State lost to Louisiana and a slightly above-average Oklahoma State team in the regular season last year before the Sooners got revenge in the Big 12 title game. For this team to actually challenge OU and make a strong College Football Playoff case, it’s on Purdy to live up to the hype and not continue to plateau. Without a leap in performance, this team is a tier below the top of their conference.