Most college football experts seem to be just guessing whether Notre Dame makes the 2024 College Football Playoff.
Kelley Ford is a little different though. He dives a little deeper into college football and, from there, makes projections about how good a season a team needs to have for the most ideal scenarios to happen.
To that end, Ford has released his projected playoff bracket. He has the Irish going 10-2 during the regular season, but to him, two losses is just enough to make them the first team left off the bracket. He explained his reasoning when posting his bracket to social media:
Official CFP projected bracket!
Do I actually believe the Committee would leave out a 10-2 Notre Dame in favor of 3-loss Michigan or Ole Miss? No, I don’t
But this is what my projected Most Deserving Rankings are forecasting using preseason power ratings and schedule difficulty pic.twitter.com/Q2VFwqTnqP
— Kelley Ford (@KFordRatings) August 22, 2024
You can do a deeper dive into Ford’s findings here. For those who don’t want to read them though, he basically says the Irish only can afford to lose one game to make the playoff, and he gives them a 40% chance at securing an at-large bid, the only way in which they can get in as an independent.
Call it a harsh assessment if you want, but sometimes, the research backs your findings up.
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