Notre Dame would have been able to overcome a loss to Texas A&M last weekend and still make the College Football Playoffs thanks to the expansion to 12 teams this year, but their margin for error would have gotten much smaller. After going into Kyle Field and the “impossible situation” that SEC fanboy Paul Finebaum described it as and walking out with a 10-point victory, though, the Irish are set up well to make a run for the playoffs that could set them up not just to make it there, but to make some noise once there.
Three Notre Dame opponents were in the initial AP top-25 for the season.