Another week and more chaos occurred in the college football landscape. Notre Dame had a bye week, but there is a lot to look into and to dissect how it both helps and hurts the Irish in their quest for the playoffs. Standing idle might only hurt them in the rankings, but not necessarily how the committee will pick for the playoffs. The CFP rankings came out this week and it has your Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the playoffs with the 11 seed. Of course, that's just projections, but it still means that if the season ended today, the committee will pick them.
However, after last week, there were a few games that might have helped and hurt them in their quest for a better seed. Ohio State and Penn State probably won't move the needle too much, but if Penn State had won it would've most certainly helped the Irish's case. Texas A&M's loss, and a big loss to say the least, against South Carolina probably hurts. It's not known yet how big of a role it will play, but it definitely does not help considering how every win the Aggies had, Notre Dame's victory over them looked better for the Irish making a case for the playoffs (and honestly it would've been crazy for both to get in too). Texas Tech beating Iowa State makes things a lot more breathable now even if Iowa State was ranked 11 at the time. While similar to Texas Tech-Iowa State, Louisville's victory over Clemson helps in two different ways as it makes things breathable for the Irish, but also it makes their victory over the Cardinals look even better on their resume. The Houston win over Kansas State, SMU's victory over Pittsburgh, and Minnesota's triumph over Illinois also give some air for Notre Dame.
As for this week there are a few games to watch that will play a massive role. Miami taking on Georgia Tech is huge in two different ways as Georgia Tech beating Miami will make the Irish victory look better plus unseating Miami from a top 10 spot helps with the rankings and seeding. There's a lot of speculation as to whether if Miami is this good this year considering their weak schedule, so that could be on the line as well.
Georgia-Ole Miss will be huge to watch as well as it can create even more chaos if Ole Miss wins as it means having another two loss team in the SEC makes things wide open for playoff seeding plus it should give Notre Dame a chance at a higher seeding. Michigan-Indiana is another huge one considering Indiana is undefeated. It's the same scenario and what's as stake as Miami-Georgia Tech, but Indiana has seemingly and convincingly looked like a dominant side all year. Embrace the chaos if Michigan wins.
The Clemson-Virginia Tech, Colorado-Texas Tech, Washington-Penn State, and Virginia-Pittsburgh matchups all will be interesting to watch as it could give some breathing room for the Irish if these were all upsets and chaos especially if Washington beats Penn State. However, the contest that will be looked as an elimination game this week is Alabama-LSU. If LSU stays alive and wins, they have a better chance at the playoffs, but if they lose, then both Alabama and the Tigers would be eliminated even if the Crimson Tide has a fighting chance at making the SEC championship, though thats a very difficult obstacle to overcome.
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