College Football Rankings: Irish Come In at #2
The first College Football Playoff rankings came out tonight, and The Notre Dame Fighting Irish came in at #2, right behind Alabama. This is the highest the Irish have found themselves on the rankings since they were ranked #3 back in 2017.
Notre Dame has 3 games left on the regular season schedule, one of which will be vs a ranked team. This Friday, Notre Dame travels to Capel Hill to play North Carolina, the last ranked team left on their schedule. North Carolina came in at number 19 on the first College Football Playoff rankings. If the Irish can finish the season undefeated, they would land a spot in the playoffs. The Irish already have a good chance of reaching the ACC Championship Game at the end of the year, where they will likely get a second matchup with Clemson(who was ranked 3rd tonight). If Notre Dame can take care of business in the last 3 games of the season and then beat Clemson again, they are in. Not an easy task.
In my opinion, the Irish can still get into the playoffs with one loss. These are my two scenarios, the first being a loss at some point in the last 3 games but a second win vs Clemson. The second scenario would be the Irish losing a close one in the ACC Championship to Clemson. I would rather not leave a seat to the dance to chance if the Irish do end the season with one loss. Undefeated or with one loss, Notre Dame has put themselves in the driver’s seat to reach the playoffs for the fist time since 2017…which I am not sure a lot of people expected from the Irish at the start of the season.
There is also this tweet….
Me, nervous? Never.