College Football Chaos: What It Means for Notre Dame's Season

Notre Dame had the best off week possible with so many key teams losing

Sep 28, 2024; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman reacts after a turnover on downs by the Louisville Cardinals in the second quarter at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-Imagn Images / Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

Weekends like this are why fans love college football

Entering the weekend, it seemed like the college football schedule was light. There weren't many "must-see" ranked on ranked matchups on the ledger as the Irish enjoyed a weekend off. Rather than being boring as predicted, this weekend was one of the wildest in recent college football history.

Alabama, Tennessee, Missouri, Michigan and USC , all ranked ahead of Notre Dame, fell on Saturday. In other games of Irish interest, Miami escaped Cal with a 1-point comeback win, Louisville lost to SMU and both Navy And Army are still undefeated .

What does this all do for Notre Dame's CFP chances?

Notre Dame has had about as productive of a weekend as possible considering it didn't have a game to play. A handful of teams ranked ahead of the Irish lost mostly unexpectedly.

These losses should position the Irish right at or near the top 10. For a team that lost to Northern Illinois at home, this is about as good of a positioning as could be hoped for at this time.

What comes next for Notre Dame? Week by week battles to keep CFP hopes alive. If Notre Dame keeps winning, its chances are good for playoff entry. Another loss may push this Irish team outside the 12-team window.

Another interesting part of this dynamic will come when 1 loss teams that are ranked in the top 12 now lose a second game. Do they drop behind one-loss teams automatically or remain ahead of some of them due to who losses were to or how tough a conference or schedule is perceived to be over another?

Nobody knows yet how the committee will gauge this dynamic but it will have major implications for Notre Dame this year.

For more Irish news & notes follow John on Twitter @alwaysirishINC, Always Irish on Youtube and or your preferred audio podcast provider.

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