Notre Dame's 5-Game College Football Playoff Elimination Challenge

Notre Dame faces a five-game challenge to keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive. Here’s a look at the matchups that will define the season.

Oct 19, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish mascot the Leprechaun waves a flag after a touchdown against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the third quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Despite all of the consternation & concern, Notre Dame keeps on winning games

It feels like not long ago, the world was ending for Notre Dame football and its loyal fanbase. The team had suffered a bad loss in week 2 of the season, the offense was struggling to find any sort of consistency, and injury concerns were piling up.

In the midst of all of this concern, coming from both the fans and beat media, present company included, something interesting occurred. Notre Dame has won 5 games in a row outscoring opponents in this stretch 205-54.

The Irish's backs have been against the proverbial CFP wall since the second week of the season and Notre Dame has responded better and stronger than many thought would be possible.

The road ahead for Notre Dame is tricky, but manageable

Based on how things presently stack up in the rankings, it seems very unlikely that Notre Dame will make the CFP field this season with two losses. This means that the Irish must win their remaining five games to make the field. A task that looked and felt daunting in mid-September, but that feels like a very realistic scenario now.

While Notre Dame will likely be favored in every game moving forward, but that doesn't mean winning out won't be tricky. FSU and USC are talented teams that are struggling right now but are very dangerous. Navy and Army on the other hand are both undefeated, ranked, and are hoping to make some CFP noise themselves, and Virginia lurks somewhere dangerously between these groups.

Notre Dame remaining football schedule

October 26 Navy (in Baltimore)

November 9 Florida State

November 16 Virginia

November 23 Army (in NYC)

November 30 at USC

Irish fans have had good reason to worry about this team, specifically now that injuries have ravaged the 2-deep. But at the same time, there's reason for confidence as well. This team just keeps on winning, and most weeks has done so convincingly.

Just go 5-0, get into the expanded College Football Playoff as the 5, 6, or 7 seed, host a game.

Go 4-1, and hope for the best.

What a wild ride that isn't close to being over.

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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