Who Is the Best Matchup for Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff?

Analyzing the best potential College Football Playoff matchups for Notre Dame and which team gives the Irish the best shot at victory.

Oct 19, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish safety Xavier Watts (0) celebrates after an interception against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the fourth quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

With the regular season over, (some) Notre Dame fans can finally sit back, take a breath and enjoy the feeling of being a lock to make the first 12-team College Football Playoff.

Not only has Notre Dame locked up a spot, but it has almost guaranteed that it will host a playoff game in Notre Dame Stadium, for the first ever on-campus playoff games. Special stuff.

Now, we can collectively focus on the conference championship games this upcoming Saturday and speculate about potential seeing for the Fighting Irish. It seems to be pretty clear that Notre Dame will be a No. 5 or No. 6 seed, depending on Tuesday night's rankings and the final rankings.

There are about a half-dozen teams Notre Dame could square off with - who is the best matchup?

When looking at ideal opponents, in my opinion, it starts with who would potentially play bad in the cold South Bend weather, and who is bad against the run. Running the ball is what gets everything going offensively for Notre Dame and a poor run defense could be shredded by quarterback Riley Leonard and his two tailbacks, Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price.

A potential foe that fits the "poor against the run" description especially is Iowa State, who is allowing over 170 yards per game on the ground. Notre Dame would run all over that defense, although the cold may not really bug the cyclones.

Somewhat surprisingly, Clemson has been poor against the run this season as well, allowing over 150 yards on the ground per game. Notre Dame fans will have fond memories of bringing the Tigers into Notre Dame Stadium and the cold in 2020 and 2022, where the Irish came away victorious both times.

Along with the Cyclones and Tigers, Notre Dame fans should also be rooting for a potential matchup with SMU, UNLV or Boise State. Two of three of those schools are from warm weather climate and Notre Dame has much better athletes at nearly every position on the field than all.

We will see how the bracket shakes out, but there aren't many bad matchups for the Irish. Notre Dame is in a great spot, folks.

Enjoy this.