Alright everyone, we can officially start scoreboard watching with our Fighting Irish ranked #3 in the CFP Rankings. While it does look like Notre Dame would be in good shape at this point just by winning out, it’s still worth following all of the other games each week that will impact the CFP Rankings so as long as Notre Dame is a legit CFP contender, we’ll take a look at who all the other contenders play as well as who Notre Dame opponents play since we now need to hope for wins by as many of Notre Dame’s opponents as possible each week. Yes, that even means USC.
Contender Watch
For now, we’ll focus on the top 10 ranked teams in contender watch unless there is a big game to look for somewhere else in the top 25.
Saturday, November 4
- #1 Georgia – vs. South Carolina – 3:30 PM (CBS) – Because Notre Dame’s “good loss” is at the hands of Georgia, the Irish either need Georgia to keep on winning or two lose two games to jump them. Odds are the Bulldogs keep on winning including this weekend over South Carolina.
- #2 Alabama – vs. #19 LSU – 8:00 PM (CBS) – This is an interesting one. LSU lost to Troy earlier this year but the Fighting Orgeron’s are on a roll. Bama should win, but an upset by LSU here would really be nice for Notre Dame.
- #4 Clemson – @ #20 NC State – 3:30 PM (ABC) – A one loss Clemson team with a win in the ACC Championship could potentially jump Notre Dame down the road. An upset by NC State is a double whammy for Notre Dame since it would only enhance last week’s win over the Wolfpack.
- #5 Oklahoma – @ #11 Oklahoma State – 4:00 PM (FS1) – This is a big one to watch because it could give the Sooners a nice bullet point for their resume. Even if the Sooners lose though, the Cowboys will jump up big time in the rankings. Still, for Notre Dame a Oklahoma State win here is much better.
- #6 Ohio State – @ Iowa – 3:30 PM (ESPN) – The Hawkeyes almost upset Penn State earlier this year and Ohio State is coming off a big, emotional win. Go Hawkeyes.
- #7 Penn State – @ #24 Michigan State – 12:00 PM (FOX) – The best noon kick-off to serve as a pre-game for Notre Dame fans. The Irish need the Spartans to pull off the upset here to maintain one of its wins over ranked opponents.
- #8 TCU – vs. Texas – 7:15 PM (ESPN) – Texas has been playing better and could be ready for the first signature win under Tom Herman. TCU and Oklahoma tangle next week too so there will be some shakeup in the Big 12 soon.
- #9 Wisconsin – @ Indiana – 12:00 PM (ESPN) – Shocking, Wisconsin doesn’t play a ranked team this week.
- #10 Miami – vs. #13 Virginia Tech – 8:00 PM (ESPN) – Good night cap for Notre Dame fans after the Wake Forest game. It would be ideal for Miami to beat the Hokies here, but Tech is favored on the road over the higher ranked undefeated Hurricanes. IF Miami wins here, expect Gameday in Miami next week and Notre Dame to get a national stage to make a statement.
Opponent Watch
This is a really big week to watch Notre Dame’s opponents as the Irish strength of schedule could either be bolstered even more or take a big hit. All of the victims of Notre Dame’s key wins right now face ranked opponents this weekend. With all three ranked between 17-24 right now that could mean either movement into the top 15 or falling out of the rankings all together.
Thursday, November 2
- Temple – vs. Navy – 8:00 PM (ESPN) – Thursday night football is meaningful for Irish fans this weekend with two opponents playing here. Temple actually still could win their conference, but Notre Dame’s win over Temple is long forgotten, it’s better for Navy to win this one and come into the Notre Dame game 8-2 and potentially ranked.
Saturday, November 4
- Georgia – See above.
- Miami (OH) – LOSS 45-28 to Ohio – Chuck Martin’s boys lost in Tuesday night MAction.
- #17 USC – vs. #22 Arizona – 10:45 PM (ESPN) – The Trojans rebounded for their embarrassing loss at the hands of Notre Dame with a nice win last weekend. Notre Dame needs USC to win out and take home the Pac 12 to really enhance that win. This should be one of the games of the week and worth watching if east coast fans can stay up for it.
- #21 Stanford – @ #25 Washington State – 3:30 PM (FOX) – In an ideal world, Stanford comes into the Thanksgiving weekend showdown undefeated. They have WSU this weekend though and Washington next. That will be a tough task for the Cardinal.
Bye Weeks
- North Carolina – BYE. Good news, the Tar Heels can’t lose this weekend.
- Boston College – BYE. The Eagles have a week off before putting their three game winning streak on the line by hosting NC State next weekend
Quite simply, the CFP ate College Football.
Does everyone know that the word “gullible” is not in the dictionary.
And college football fans are soooooooooooooo gullible.
The correct solution for college football is a sixteen team playoff. Here’s how it SHOULD work.
86 the conference championships.
First week in Dec. a quadruple header on Saturday and Sunday. Fear the NFL? hell college football fathered it!
Second Satirday and Sunday in December two doubleheaders to get down to the Final Four.
One week off, doubleheader the Saturday right after or right before Christmas.
Chapionship game 10 days later.
Who wins from the current format? ESPN, Fox Sports, Rivals, 247 and all these parasites like First Take, Cowherd, Whitlock, PTI and all the rest of these gossip shows. ESPN is a GOSSIP channel not a FOOTBALL CHANNEL.
Also, athletic administrators get to pontificate.
Who loses? Football fans and football players.
This is not rocket science. College hoops showed the way, and the lower divisions in college football made it work.
College fans and school alumni are passive, supine, foolish. What you have to do at your alumni meetings is grab the athletic director or his lackey by the scruff of the neck and tell him to get behind a 16 team playoff or never come to YOUR town again.
Football. On the field. In the trenches.
This October release of rankings, with all the oohing and aahing and figuring out scenarios is nerdy, weak and effeminate.
Our warriors in the trenches, and for that matter the warriors in the trenches of the other 125 plus deserve better.
And if you don’t want to sit down in December and watch all that great college football, well, I can’t help you.
This current scenario and the mating dance of the parasites? Include me out.
An eight team playoff would be better. Five power conference champions get auto bids and you have three at large bids to play with. There is a world of difference between getting left out at ranking 5 or 6 and getting left out at ranking 9. If you are left out at 9 – too bad – go lift weights, dudes.
BGC ’77 ’82
I agree. 16 would be too many. 8 would make sure you get your best teams and still retain the importance of the regular season. You still couldn’t really lost more than a game, 2 max.
The only thing is I wouldn’t give anyone an automatic bid. Most years the big 5 conference champions would be in anyway, but on a rare occasion you might have a 3 or more loss champion. That team should not go to a playoff. I think back to 2005 when FSU went to a BCS bowl just because they were a conference champ and they had 4 losses I think it was (another case of anti-ND bias–I remember the haters were up in arms because ND got a BCS invite and nary a word about FSU getting in).
Well, I like and respect what you did there, Bruce, and Damian concurs.
But I prefer, not to go all John Galt here, competition over rectitude. In football the ultimate “justice” is what happens on the field of honor.
Further, let me beg the question here. Consider UCF. We really have no idea what their upside is.
But you would probably need to go to 16 to get them in. Again, I plea guilty to begging the question.
Here;s ND’s key to its “Road to the Playoffs”:
Texas, USC, Auburn, Florida, Florida State and LSU are all having highly & unusually terrible seasons.
David,
And ND gets no credit at all for a fine season so far?
Remind me, David, do you claim to be a ND fan or are you a troll?
If an ND fan, then enjoy the ride. Things can go south fast given the schedule ahead. But for now, ND has done what it needed to do, unlike past seasons.
If you’re a troll, then get a life!
GO IRISH!
David seems to have some personal score to settle with BK. He wants him fired. Now for that to happen ND has to lose a bunch of games.
Now some of us wanted BK gone after last year’s debacle, but I know for me that had more to do with W’s and L’s. BK wasn’t getting the job done, but it wasn’t personal. If ND winds a NC and BK is head coach, I’m ok with that. In fact I’ll be happier then a pig in, well you know.
I gather from David’s comments in the past that he is still sore about BK interviewing with NFL teams a few years back. Now I had a lot of issues with BK last year, but interviewing with the NFL like 4 years ago wasn’t exactly first on my list. As far as I know BK hasn’t gone on any interviews lately, but I guess that doesn’t matter.
yeah he,s a troll! claims he doesn’t watch the games but still comes on to rip the team every week. we kept KELLY and lost Davey ill take that trade off anytime! GO IRISH!!!
Not sure what his story is. Like the NC State game, he comes on and says basically without Adams they would have lost the game, but says he watched more entertaining games. Um, if you didn’t watch the game, how would you know how they played. ND dominated NC State basically from the 2nd quarter on. Even at the very end, they could have easily scored another TD. They didn’t only because at that point they could take a knee and run out the clock. There was no point.
G-R-I-N-D. Keep grinding. And GoIRISH!
O-K
We just need to keep dominating teams the way we have and we will not get moved out of the top 4, guaranteed.
Two points: first, ND UGA and Bama are the only teams in the top 8 without a blemish on their resumes. Wait, you’re thinking ‘what about our loss?’ Well, I submit that losing to the number one team by 1 point is proof of being playoff caliber. Second, it is possible that ND can win out and still be left out. But it will take a perfect storm for that to happen and there is nothing anyone can do about it, so lets enjoy the ride!
Agree on most of that. Alabama always gets a mulligan so even if they lose a game they’re in. I have a bad feeling PSU will beat MSU this weekend. I don’t think MSU will be able to stop Barkley like OSU did. I think when we look to our own SOS, NC State, USC and Stanford may be our best hope, with maybe Navy in the mix. BC and WF, if they can win a couple games, while they won’t be ranked, could help a little.
Worse case scenario I think would be for OK and Clemson to win out and win their conference championship games. OK has a stronger SOS at the end of their season and Clemson is already in the top 4 taking into account the Syracuse loss and I don’t see anything ahead that would cause them to fall out of it. I’m less worried about OSU because I don’t see much ahead that would allow them to jump a game. OK has a gauntlet coming up, so they are the most likely to lose a 2nd game. NC State can really help us this weekend by beating Clemson. The potential is there if they can get back to their game plan this week and not let last week’s blowout bother them too much. They still have a legit shot at an ACC championship so they still have something to play for.
Navy will beat Temple, forgone conclusion. But, for ol’ time sake you can’t beat Army Navy game. Both my Grandfathers were Philly Cops in the 30’s keeping order at this game.
Only fools predict. Quod erat demonstrandum.
Ha!
BGC ’77 ’82