Can Notre Dame still make College Football Playoff with a home loss to Louisville?

With a game against a top-25 team Louisville this week, Notre Dame has a chance to give them a fighting chance to make the 12-team playoff as a lower seed. While Irish fans are trying to think positive, people are certainly worrying that a loss would take Marcus Freeman's squad out of the playoff discussion completely, even if they win-out the rest of the way.

After starting off the season with a great win over Texas A&M, Notre Dame suffered a brutal loss to sneaky good Northern Illinois, 16-14. This loss drove down the Irish chances of making the College Football Playoff, especially with a relatively weak schedule coming up and few chances for a signature win.

The program's schedule was already extremely weak before Florida State struggled this season and now looks like a complete cakewalk with Texas A&M, USC, and Louisville looking like their only above-average opponents. As the Irish look to keep the Cardinals at bay this week, it's worth wondering if the program can still somehow make the playoff if they lose at home to Louisville.

If they lose to Louisville, it's over for Notre Dame

While things can change, Notre Dame will likely not be able to make the 12-team playoff if the program loses to Louisville this week. The program already has one loss and an unfavorable result against the Cardinals this week will make that two. With the Irish being independent, Notre Dame has no way to prove itself during conference title week.

After Louisville, USC, Georgia Tech and Army are the only opponents against whom a win would be impressive in any meaningful way.

Yes, it's possible that a weak field could allow a two-loss Irish program to be in the discussion for the last at-large bid in the playoff. Still, it's clear that a loss against Louisville puts the program's hopes for the playoff on life support for the rest of the season.