As you may have heard, Notre Dame is 5–0 and squarely in the playoff conversation as the calendar turns to October, and unlike many of the teams above them, the Fighting Irish don’t see a sharp uptick in the difficulty of their schedule in the coming weeks. Survive Saturday night in Blacksburg, and Notre Dame’s biggest remaining tests could be a road trip to Northwestern and a neutral-site game against Syracuse. Of course, if the Irish are in the top four, another power conference gets squeezed out; this week Clemson’s QB uncertainty and equally soft schedule leave the Tigers on the wrong side of the bubble, but as the arrival at the first playoff rankings on Halloween night approaches, that bubble could shift several times.
Bowl Projections: The Potential Fallout of a Notre Dame Playoff Push
