Here's Notre Dame's Path to College Football Playoff

There are six college football teams that remain in the running to be selected into the College Football Playoff.

The biggest question on everyone's mind is whether or not the selection committee will opt to put Cincinnati into the playoff, which would make them the first "Group of 5" team to make it into the national semi-finals.

One outcome that not many people are talking about, is that Notre Dame still has an outside shot of being given the nod. WynnBET has given the Fighting Irish the longest odds to win the national championship at +2500, so their odds are slim, but certainly not zero.

How Can Notre Dame Make the College Football Playoff?

Notre Dame being an independent team means that it doesn't have a conference championship game this weekend to pad its resume. Instead, it will need several other games to fall its way.

First things first, Notre Dame almost certainly needs Cincinnati to lose to Houston in the AAC Championship Game. Notre Dame's sole loss on the season as at home to the Bearcats, so it'd be unlikely, and straight up disrespectful, if the Playoff Committee selected Notre Dame over an undefeated Cincinnati team.

If Cincinnati loses to Houston, the Fighting Irish will also likely need Oklahoma State to fall to Baylor. That would likely put Notre Dame a step above an 11-2 Oklahoma State team, which would put them into the Playoff alongside Michigan, Georgia, and Alabama.

The best case scenario for Notre Dame, is for every bubble team to lose. If Michigan loses to Iowa, Alabama loses to Georgia, Oklahoma State loses to Baylor, and Cincinnati loses to Houston, Notre Dame would be a shoe-in.

While those scenarios seem nice, every team that Notre Dame needs to lose is a sizable favorite in their respective conference championship games. Then again, crazier things have happened.