The Fighting Irish can take down everyone on their schedule (Boston College, NC State, Georgia Tech, Boston College) except Louisville. That isn’t saying they won’t beat the Cardinals because they most likely will. It’s saying that their mind should be on teams they’ll have trouble against.
Throughout a season, no player, coach, analyst, fan, or staff member will say that a team is looking further than the next game. That’s true when there are 25 games left in a season. When there’s five, it’s time to start focusing on how high you can seed at the next stage of the season.