There are a lot of college football fans that declared Notre Dame's aspirations to avenge its 2025 national championship heartbreak dead after Week 2. The Fighting Irish lost both of their opening games to Miami and Texas A&M, yet clung to a Top 25 ranking throughout their winless start.
Fast-forward to Week 7 and the boys from South Bend, Indiana are alive and kicking at 3-2 and have climbed all the way back up to No. 16 in the national rankings, namely the AP Top 25.
After a matchup with NC State on Saturday, the Irish will take a trip to Los Angeles for date with their hated rivals at USC. The Trojans are currently the only high-profile and decent quality opponent remaining on Notre Dame's schedule, meaning a victory will be crucial in keeping their season alive.
Notre Dame is surprisingly on the cusp of clinching a College Football Playoff berth
If Notre Dame defeats USC in Week 8, they will probably be a de facto lock for the College Football Playoff at 5-2. That may surprise some folks, but it's one of the benefits of the Irish's independent status — and frankly their remaining strength of schedule combined with the ever-important quality losses that the CFP Selection Committee weighs.
Sure, they lost their first two games, but it was by a combined four points to two teams now residing in the Top 5 (No. 2 Miami and No. 5 Texas A&M). If either one of those teams wins their respective conference, that boosts Notre Dame's resume even more. Not to mention, if both teams continue to remain a factor in the playoff picture, those will go down as the aforementioned quality losses.
Granted, the Irish need to run the table after the USC game. There's still no room for error the rest of the season but each of their remaining games is entirely winnable and by a significant margin. The only team that may pose a significant threat is Syracuse on Nov. 22, but there's still a lot of football left to be played before making that determination.
Notre Dame haters may not like it (and they'll surely let everyone know) but the reality of the college football landscape is that Notre Dame gets a reprieve most other schools don't on the scheduling front. And considering the expanded 12-team CFP gives more opportunity, that reprieve becomes even more beneficial.