Tuesday Takes: Beating Purdue was nice but Notre Dame is still cooked

It doesn't matter what the final score was from West Lafayette last Saturday, I don't trust Notre Dame, and you shouldn't either. The Fighting Irish improved to 2-1 on the season with a blowout victory over the hapless Purdue Boilermakers. While the Week 1 win over the Texas A&M Aggies still looks good, as does the home loss to the Northern Illinois Huskies to some extent, I still have some real concerns.

While I expect for Notre Dame to get past Miami (OH) this weekend to improve to 3-1 on the year, the Louisville date in two weeks frightens me. Although I think Notre Dame may have the talent to get past Georgia Tech in a few weeks, the Irish are not beating USC at the end of the season. So at best, this feels like a 10-2 team, but one that may feel like a 9-3 team, depending on how well NIU finishes.

Yes, last Saturday was a good bounce-back win for the Irish, one that the program certainly needed. Although they cleaned the Boilermakers' clock at Ross-Ade, Riley Leonard still hasn't thrown a touchdown pass so far this season. He is clearly more of a runner than a thrower. Regardless if that is true or not long-term, he is not gelling in Mike Denbrock's offense in the slightest. This is not good...

Even worse, Notre Dame is starting to get banged up even more. Center Ashton Craig and defensive end Jordn Botelho are out for the season with knee injuries. Guard Billy Schrauth will be out for at least a month with an ankle injury. This comes in the wake of offensive tackle Charles Jagusah suffering a season-ending injury in fall camp. All of this has combined to fading the Irish this year.

Things are better in South Bend than in Ann Arbor or in Tallahassee, but it could be a long December...

Notre Dame might be 2-1, but this is not a College Football Playoff team

The good news for Marcus Freeman's Fighting Irish is they have gotten their unthinkable loss on the season out of the way. By getting the annual Marcus Freeman Letdown Game out of the way, the Irish can focus on trying their best to improve as the season progresses. While they do have a fairly navigable schedule, there is no margin for error left if they want to qualify for the expanded playoff.

Although some prognosticators have already labeled the USC date at the end of the season as a potential College Football Playoff play-in game, I feel strongly that notion is premature. USC feels like a borderline playoff lock right now to me. The Trojans may only be 2-0, but they have looked like a team that will more than hold its own in the expanded Big Ten. Notre Dame only has nine games left.

Admittedly, college football is a wacky, weird and wonderful sport. Notre Dame does not have to play in a conference to contend for a national championship. In most years, just going 10-2 would suffice inclusion in the expanded field. However, every 10-2 is different. Losing at home to Northern Illinois is a defeat the Irish have to find a way to overcome. Unfortunately, this team is starting to drop like flies.

Every team is allowed to get better as the season progresses, but Notre Dame might run out of gas.