Notre Dame football: Fighting Irish path to the College Football Playoff

Notre Dame football is alive for a return trip to the College Football Playoff but needs some help over the next three weeks to make back-to-back appearances.

Notre Dame football has a shot to return to the College Football Playoff for the third time overall and for the second straight year. But Brian Kelly’s team needs a few breaks to fall their way over the next three weeks to get one of the four spots.

Last year had a lot of debate about whether Notre Dame was worthy of a playoff spot with many believing No. 5 Texas A&M was a better team. Notre Dame lost to Alabama in the semifinal game, but their spot was earned by virtue of their win over Clemson in the regular season.

Notre Dame doesn’t have the same level of a quality win this year but the improved play of Wisconsin over the last six weeks has helped their strength of record. Wisconsin is No. 15 in the latest CFP rankings with Notre Dame sitting at No. 6, two spots out of the playoff.

How can Notre Dame make the College Football Playoff?

Notre Dame doesn’t control its destiny like other one-loss teams like Alabama, Oregon, Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State. Perhaps, even Oklahoma State and Oklahoma. Without having a conference championship game, Notre Dame won’t have the benefit of boasting another quality win on their resume. With Georgia Tech and Stanford remaining on the schedule, Brian Kelly’s team should finish the year with two more wins.

Will it be enough?

Notre Dame football fans should be rooting for Alabama to lose to give them a second loss. It’ll be even better if that loss comes against Arkansas or Auburn, and not Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. A close loss to Georgia may actually help Alabama in the “quality loss” department.

Next, Notre Dame needs Oregon to lose a second game. It may be the most likely scenario with Utah on the schedule on Nov. 20 and a likely rematch in the Pac-12 Championship Game. A second Oregon loss eliminates the Ducks.

There is potential for Big Ten carnage that opens the path for Notre Dame. If Ohio State beats Michigan State on Nov. 20 then loses to Michigan on Nov. 27 and then Michigan loses to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game, that’s great news. That means Notre Dame holds a win over the Big Ten champion and eliminates three teams ranked above them.

Now that’s starting to look pretty good for Notre Dame to make the playoff. Big Ten cannibalizing each other is certainly possible, but Notre Dame also needs to root for a team to win.

No. 5 Cincinnati needs to finish undefeated so Notre Dame’s loss to the Bearcats is as strong of a quality loss as possible. Cincinnati has SMU and East Carolina remaining and then Houston in the American Championship Game in all likelihood.

For Notre Dame to make the playoff, they need to win out and root for some upsets while Cincinnati runs the table. If Cincinnati loses and Notre Dame wins out, that hurts their resume. So root for Big Ten chaos, Cincinnati to win and Oregon and Alabama to lose. Not all needs to happen but if some of these scenarios play out, Notre Dame could see a return to the playoff.

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