In college football these days it’s all about being ranked in the top four by the time the regular season comes to an end. How you get there doesn’t matter nearly as much as the simple fact you do and that you earn the College Football Playoff berth with it.
Notre Dame has earned a berth to the CFP twice to date and if things fall right, could earn a third this season. However, tough tasks await as a few of the best programs in all of college football appear on Notre Dame’s schedule this fall.
Chip Patterson of CBS Sports released his 1-131 preseason college football poll and he had Notre Dame just outside that all-important top four as they ranked sixth. Perhaps just as importantly, two Notre Dame opponents for 2022 were ranked ahead of the Irish as Clemson checked in fifth and Ohio State second.
Patterson put USC 12th, BYU just outside the top 25 at 26, and then no 2022 Notre Dame opponents appeared again until North Carolina checks in at 46.
The rest of Notre Dame’s 2022 opponents were ranked as follows:
55. Boston College
71. Stanford
75. Cal
76. Marshall
89. Syracuse
103. Navy
116. UNLV
It’s very top-heavy as you can tell but plenty manageable at the same time. Even with a loss at Ohio State to open the year Notre Dame’s talent should be good enough to win 10 games if not more this regular season.
And if it’s more then the powers that be will have a hard time keeping Notre Dame out of the CFP with an 11-1 mark against the likes of Ohio State, Clemson, USC, and BYU.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz1mmy7gev0xbr player_id=none image=https://fightingirishwire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
[lawrence-related id=58508]
[listicle id=58915]