AP Top 25 (ND #11)

[BobbyMac]

Yep - and if we had played anybody other than 'Bama that year we have another national championship.

In a playoff system, Oregon would have been hard to beat. I would have put ND as the favorite against <strike>Florida</strike>. Oops. It was Georgia that won the East that year. That's a toss up tween those two in 2012.

 

[Domina Nostra]

11-1 Notre Dame would trump everyone EXCEPT a 12-1 Alabama or Clemson. Alabama is the gold standard right now and would almost certainly get the benefit of the doubt. Clemson is the reigning champs.

However, it would be pretty BS for the committee to treat FCS teams as equal to FBS teams, in my opinion. That's the whole point of the division: admitting that they are qualitatively different types of programs.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

AP Top 25 (ND #16)

AP Top 25 (ND #16)

I'm still under the impression we would have lost to whoever we played. The preparation was awful IMO.

*Maybe Bama exaggerated the poor game prep by their superiority and pristine game plan, but from the get go it was hard to see an ND team ready to play.

 

[greyhammer90]

While I think KSU we beat, I think if Georgia tops Bama we lose to Georgia in pretty bad fashion too.

Debatable despite what /r/cfb would say. Everyone agrees applying a spread transitive property is terrible logic, but for some reason Georgia fans love to do it for that 2012 NCG. We beat plenty of good teams that year, and Georgia lost to a team that would've been the 4th toughest on our schedule. They also only beat a No. 23 Nebraska team by one touchdown in their bowl game.

College football is complicated and difficult to predict because of different schemes, coaches, and individual matchups, is what I'm saying. Simply saying that UGA had a really good game against Bama and we didn't means that we would lose to UGA sets off my BS meter.

 

[koonja]

Debatable despite what /r/cfb would say. Everyone agrees applying a spread transitive property is terrible logic, but for some reason Georgia fans love to do it for that 2012 NCG. We beat plenty of good teams that year, and Georgia lost to a team that would've been the 4th toughest on our schedule. They also only beat a No. 23 Nebraska team by one touchdown in their bowl game.

College football is complicated and difficult to predict because of different schemes, coaches, and individual matchups, is what I'm saying. Simply saying that UGA had a really good game against Bama and we didn't means that we would lose to UGA sets off my BS meter.

What dominant wins did we have that would lead you to think we'd beat Georgia though? Oklahoma? They ended with 3 losses and got housed against A&M 42-13 to end the year.

 

[greyhammer90]

What dominant wins did we have that would lead you to think we'd beat Georgia though? Oklahoma? They ended with 3 losses and got housed against A&M 42-13 to end the year.

I spend the entire post talking about how you can't pretend that such things are accurate predictors of success between two teams and you ask me to prove it by doing the exact thing I just said was dumb...

Speaking of how college football is a complicated and difficult sport to predict... By the end of the year that A&M team was hot fire. I honestly think they would've beaten anyone by the end of the year. They would've killed us and Georgia both.

To answer your question, yeah we beat eventual #15 Oklahoma 30-13 at home, at night. That's not bad (and is only 12 points less than Johnny Manziel playing video games). We also beat the eventual Rose Bowl champs Stanford, who themselves beat Oregon handily and won the Pac 12 (Oregon being the other fanbase with a lot to say about 2012 what ifs). Those two wins show that we were at the very least competitive with good college football teams. We had the No. 8 toughest schedule in the country and beat 7 out of 12 by double digits.

We were a good football team. That Alabama team just hit its stride at the wrong time for us. It happens. There's nothing to indicate that UGA rolls us in the same way. Unless you think UGA would've rolled every other college football team the same way.

 

[Legacy]

Projecting the College Football Playoff Rankings: Don't sleep on ACC, Notre Dame:The ACC and the Irish combine for one-third of the top 12 teams in this week's rankings

Four of the Irish's six final opponents are on this list of twenty-five with Navy probably verging just outside of it. Twenty-five per cent of teams on the list play the Irish in 2017.

 

[stlnd01]

Projecting the College Football Playoff Rankings: Don't sleep on ACC, Notre Dame:The ACC and the Irish combine for one-third of the top 12 teams in this week's rankings

Four of the Irish's six final opponents are on this list of twenty-five with Navy probably verging just outside of it. Twenty-five per cent of teams on the list play the Irish in 2017.

Michigan State at 13 is, um, aggressive.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

Projecting the College Football Playoff Rankings: Don't sleep on ACC, Notre Dame:The ACC and the Irish combine for one-third of the top 12 teams in this week's rankings

Four of the Irish's six final opponents are on this list of twenty-five with Navy probably verging just outside of it. Twenty-five per cent of teams on the list play the Irish in 2017.

All aboard the hype train. Sigh. The more glowing reviews we get, the more likely USC is going to come in and pitch a perfect game, just because......We HAVE to win, no hyperbole.

 

[BeatSC]

Style points are needed. Time to open a can of wuppass on Pretty Boy Darnold!

 

[STLDomer]

I love this debate.

11-1 Notre Dame would make the CFB Playoff. Period.

Teams will lose. OU just lost to Iowa State. No matter how heinous it seems to imagine Team X and Team Y losing, some will lose.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

AP Top 25 (ND #16)

AP Top 25 (ND #16)

That ugly prune face chick from ESPN just said on Finebaum Show (prolly a rerun already discussed) "Notre Dame at 11-1 would be VERY hard for the playoff committee to ignore."

She then went on to say Georgia's win over ND is more impressive than Bama's over FSU.

 

[irishog77]

That ugly prune face chick from ESPN just said on Finebaum Show (prolly a rerun already discussed) "Notre Dame at 11-1 would be VERY hard for the playoff committee to ignore."

She then went on to say Georgia's win over ND is more impressive than Bama's over FSU.

You're going to have to be more specific, as about 6 espn personalities came to mind.

 

[IrishSteelhead]

You're going to have to be more specific, as about 6 espn personalities came to mind.

Heather Dinich. I'm not a fan of her opinion 99% of the time, and I'm not a fan of her face 100% of the time.

On the other hand, this Lauren Rutledge chick with Paul looks very bangable.

 

[gkIrish]

I love this debate.

11-1 Notre Dame would make the CFB Playoff. Period.

Teams will lose. OU just lost to Iowa State. No matter how heinous it seems to imagine Team X and Team Y losing, some will lose.

11-1 absolutely 100% gets in. Completely agree. Not a debate.

 

[MNIrishman]

Style points are needed. Time to open a can of wuppass on Pretty Boy Darnold!

I'm worried that this game will be the time the refs remember that every time ND touches a QB is targeting.

 

[stlnd01]

We should get in at 11-1, if our schedule stays as tough as it looks. Whether or not we do is a different story.

It would really help our cause to have beaten a conference champion. USC or Miami seem most likely options. Because conference champs are what we'll be up against, and despite our SOS, there will be some who hold it against us that we didn't win a conference. Plus we won't have that last big chance to impress in a title game.

Absent a win over the ACC or PAC 12 champ, it would get very interesting if we go 11-1 and Georgia wins the SEC championship. I still think Bama gets in ahead of us, because they're Bama. But who knows.

 

[koonja]

I love this debate.

11-1 Notre Dame would make the CFB Playoff. Period.

Teams will lose. OU just lost to Iowa State. No matter how heinous it seems to imagine Team X and Team Y losing, some will lose.

11-1 absolutely 100% gets in. Completely agree. Not a debate.

Agree. This isn't even a question IMO.

 

[GATTACA!]

Zero chance ND doesn't make it in at 11-1.

First of all everyone saying "Well all those teams have just as good of a shot at being undefeated as ND does going 11-1." are missing the point. The scenario is if we go 11-1. Even if you think the probabilities are low that it happens, that doesn't mean that in the same scenario it's just as likely that all those teams go undefeated. In almost every scenario there's no more than 2 undefeated teams.

Secondly what everyone's forgetting is that our loss is behind us and we're already back to #16. If we continue to roll through our schedule we can only go up. As of right now ahead of us are 2 teams we play (Miami and SC) both would obviously have to lose for us to go 11-1. So we're at #14. Of the 13 teams remaining ahead of us 12 of them play at least one more game against another team from that top 13, some play multiple. The only one that doesn't is Clemson who still has a tough game with #20 NCST and a dangerous FSU team. That doesn't even include conference championship games. So by the end of our regular season if we win out there's a very good chance that we will be in the top 4 just from attrition.

 

[SouthSideChiDomer]

Until it's proven otherwise I will believe that an 11-1 Notre Dame team will make the playoff. Once I am proven wrong I will yell and scream about it as much as anyone else. But until that point, I'm not putting in the effort to figure out playoff scenarios.

 

[Irish YJ]

We see this debate every year. While an 11-1 ND stands a good chance at the playoffs, it's not automatic. Requires some chips to fall our way. Those same chips could fall just as easy for other 1 loss teams. One need only look back at 2010, 13, and 14 to see good one loss teams that did not, or would not have made the playoffs.

 

[stlnd01]

We see this debate every year. While an 11-1 ND stands a good chance at the playoffs, it's not automatic. Requires some chips to fall our way. Those same chips could fall just as easy for other 1 loss teams. One need only look back at 2010, 13, and 14 to see good one loss teams that did not, or would not have made the playoffs.

Also 2015, in which, had things gone just a bit differently against Stanford, a good 11-1 Notre Dame with its one loss coming close to a playoff team, would not have made the playoffs.

 

[RDU Irish]

Also 2015, in which, had things gone just a bit differently against Stanford, a good 11-1 Notre Dame with its one loss coming close to a playoff team, would not have made the playoffs.

That's more of a "lose early being better than losing late" than anything. If Clemson was the only loss in early October we are in much better shape than Stanford the only loss last game of the season. Also tight wins over Temple and Boston College last half of the season hurt - style points matter.

I disagree and think ND was in the playoffs had they beaten Stanford but it is irrelevant until we actually sack up and go 11-1 to put the committee in the position to make that decision.

We go 11-1 this year I have a hard time seeing us anywhere but the playoffs. Losing that early and playing such a tough schedule to finish will give us plenty of opportunities to move up. I just see a slim chance of this team doing better than 10-2 so, again, a pointless conversation until we make the committee decide on an 11-1 ND squad.

 

[stlnd01]

That's more of a "lose early being better than losing late" than anything. If Clemson was the only loss in early October we are in much better shape than Stanford the only loss last game of the season. Also tight wins over Temple and Boston College last half of the season hurt - style points matter.

I disagree and think ND was in the playoffs had they beaten Stanford but it is irrelevant until we actually sack up and go 11-1 to put the committee in the position to make that decision.

We go 11-1 this year I have a hard time seeing us anywhere but the playoffs. Losing that early and playing such a tough schedule to finish will give us plenty of opportunities to move up. I just see a slim chance of this team doing better than 10-2 so, again, a pointless conversation until we make the committee decide on an 11-1 ND squad.

Definitely better to lose early than late, though I also think it helps to have big wins late. IIRC from 2015, we were on track for the playoff but started to slip after Temple, and especially after we dicked around with BC. Going into the Stanford game we were ranked 6th behind both Michigan State and Iowa, who were on track to play each other in the Big Ten title game, with the winner all but assured of the fourth playoff spot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_NCAA_Division_I_FBS_football_rankings

We might have jumped ahead of MSU/Iowa (or Oklahoma?) had we trounced Stanford, but probably would have needed someone ahead of us to lose. Remember, MSU had just beaten Ohio State and Iowa, while our signature win would have been a three-loss Stanford team ranked in the teens, then Temple, Navy and a down USC.

Either way, I agree none of it matters until we go 11-1 and force the issue.

 

[Blaise]

To me, this season esp, with the way we have dominated teams.. It's not like 2015 where we had close games against average teams throughout the season. We have handled the poor teams, lost by 1 to Georgia who might run the table before Bama.. If we go 11-1, we will have big wins over NC ST, Miami, USC, MSU might be a top 25 team at end of year.. that's a resume that is hard to leave out.

11-1 ND gets in over 11-1 Oklahoma IMO,

BUT at end of day we have to win out. Every year we do this and we worry and ND finds a way to leave it out of the PC hands and not in the good way.. Win out and we can debate and talk in Dec

 

[SoDakDomer]

No way an 11-1 ND team gets left out with this schedule. If it does then all this strength of schedule talk the committee gives us is meaningless. Every team will be back to scheduling patsy non conference games. I still think that's the way to go if anyone is serious about contending for the playoffs each year. I still haven't seen the committee punish anyone for their schedule, example last years Washington team. Also I don't think anyone not named Alabama survives our schedule without at least 1 loss and probably more likely 2 losses.

 

[gkIrish]

Also 2015, in which, had things gone just a bit differently against Stanford, a good 11-1 Notre Dame with its one loss coming close to a playoff team, would not have made the playoffs.

The difference is that the only really good team we would have beat that year would have been Stanford. We won 10 games against basically Navy and a bunch of unranked teams.

 

[Irish Insanity]

We're already discussing playoff berth? 😂😂😂

 

[NorthDakota]

To me, this season esp, with the way we have dominated teams.. It's not like 2015 where we had close games against average teams throughout the season. We have handled the poor teams, lost by 1 to Georgia who might run the table before Bama.. If we go 11-1, we will have big wins over NC ST, Miami, USC, MSU might be a top 25 team at end of year.. that's a resume that is hard to leave out.

11-1 ND gets in over 11-1 Oklahoma IMO,

BUT at end of day we have to win out. Every year we do this and we worry and ND finds a way to leave it out of the PC hands and not in the good way.. Win out and we can debate and talk in Dec

OU is going to have a very difficult time explaining that Iowa St deal...

 

[BobbyMac]

No way an 11-1 ND team gets left out with this schedule. If it does then all this strength of schedule talk the committee gives us is meaningless. Every team will be back to scheduling patsy non conference games. I still think that's the way to go if anyone is serious about contending for the playoffs each year. I still haven't seen the committee punish anyone for their schedule, example last years Washington team. Also I don't think anyone not named Alabama survives our schedule without at least 1 loss and probably more likely 2 losses.

Clemson & Washington go 13-0, OSU, Aub, UGA & Wiscy are 12-1, Bama & PSU are 11-1.

Forget a possible 12-0 TCU or 11-1 OU and the 12-1 Wiscy. Let's assume the committee would ignore them...

Is that a way?

So you're pretty confident the Irish lose at least one more. Odds say you're right.


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