College Football News runs a College Football Playoff prediction each week, and thanks in part to Notre Dame’s win over Louisville, along with a wild weekend of upsets during the Fighting Irish’s bye, Notre Dame is projected to be back in.
CFN has the Irish hosting Boise State in South Bend on December 21. Not only that, but the outlet has Notre Dame beating Boise State before playing Utah in the next round. It projects Notre Dame to win that game, too, before losing to Ohio State one round short of the national championship game.
Other outlets, including USA Today, also have the Irish in the playoffs, though some as a lower seed that will have to play on the road. And a few outlets still think the Irish are destined for the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
Still, at least outlet thinks the Irish are capable of a deep playoff run. That seemed unthinkable after the loss to Northern Illinois.
What a difference a few weeks makes.
SOUTH BEND, INDIANA – SEPTEMBER 28: Beaux Collins #5 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in action against Tahveon Nicholson #23 of the Louisville Cardinals during the second half at Notre Dame Stadium on September 28, 2024 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
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Riley Leonard could be comeback player of the year.
Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard is on the October watch list for College Football Comeback Player of the Year.
This follows Leonard’s decision to transfer from Duke to Notre Dame in 2023. Leonard suffered a season-ending ankle injury on his final play against the Fighting Irish in Notre Dame’s 21-14 road victory over the Blue Devils.
Cynical Notre Dame fans might also say it applies to Leonard’s 2024 season — Leonard struggled in the passing game early but has looked better in the two most recent games.
We’re betting he’s on the list because of the injury and only because of the injury, but given his early struggles, we understand where Irish fans are coming from.
Regardless, Leonard has a shot at the award if he continues to play well over the remainder of the season.
Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard (13) takes his helmet off as he walks off the field at the end of a drive during a NCAA college football game between Notre Dame and Louisville at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in South Bend.
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Notre Dame didn’t benefit much from upsets, at least not in the experts’ eyes.
One might think that with Alabama, Tennessee, Missouri, USC and Michigan losing all on the same Saturday, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish might get a bit more love from pundits even though the Irish were idle.
That’s not quite how things have shaken out, despite Notre Dame moving up in the AP Top 25 poll.
Joel Klatt does give the Irish the “almost” treatment, but he still leaves them outside his Top 10. Danny Kannell still has Notre Dame outside of his Top 12.
Klatt goes Texas, Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon and Penn State with his top five. Kannell has his top five as Texas, Ohio State, Miami, Oregon and Penn State.
Perhaps the Irish would’ve been placed higher on these folks’ lists if they’d played and won on Saturday. Either way, the rash of upsets is probably good news for Notre Dame — assuming the Irish don’t fall victim to another upset of their own.
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Notre Dame moves up three spots without even playing.
Even though the Notre Dame Fighting Irish had the week off, they gained three spots in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, moving up to No. 11.
A slew of upsets on Saturday caused a lot of movement on the poll. The Alabama Crimson Tide dropped from No. 1 to No. 7 after being upset by Vanderbilt. Not to be outdone, Tennessee lost late to Arkansas and fell four spots to No. 8.
Missouri plummeted 12 spots to No. 21 after losing to Texas A&M, which jumped from No. 25 to No. 15. Defending national champion Michigan slipped 14 spots to No. 24 after falling to Washington in a title-game rematch.
POLL ALERT: Texas returns to No. 1 in AP Top 25 college football poll after Vanderbilt upsets Alabama, Tide drop from No. 1 to No. 7
Schools that moved up included Texas, which went from No. 2 to No. 1, and Ohio State. The Buckeyes moved up from No. 3 to No. 2. The Nittany Lions of Penn State jumped three spots to No. 4 and the Oregon Ducks also moved up three spots — they now sit at No. 3. Georgia remains in No. 5.
Miami hung on to beat Cal and moved up two spots to No. 6. With Alabama at No. 7 and Tennessee at No. 7, the top 10 gets rounded out by Ole Miss moving up three spots and Clemson shooting up five spots to No. 10.
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Former college quarterback and current analyst Greg McElroy is back in on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish after the Irish beat Louisville 31-24 on Saturday.
A lot of pundits are still not seeing the Irish as a top-10 or playoff team, but McElroy thinks the Irish could be — if they get back to playing to their potential, and if they can do it for a full game.
“The boobirds were out after Week 2, weren’t they?” McElroy said on his podcast. “You go, and you lose to Northern Illinois. They look great against A&M in the fourth quarter of the football game, and then Northern Illinois comes to town, and you get beat up along both lines of scrimmage.”
“Sometimes, you can point to upsets, and you say, ‘All right, well, little flukey, right. (It’s) unlikely that that happens again,'” McElroy said. “Well, that wasn’t the case against Northern Illinois. Northern Illinois just flat-out beat them along both lines of scrimmage.”
Sep 28, 2024; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish long snapper Rino Monteforte (39) prepares to snap the ball on an extra point in the fourth quarter against the Louisville Cardinals at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-Imagn Images
That was the bad. Here’s the good.
“You look at it, Riley Leonard, it’s his fifth game as the starting quarterback of the Irish, and this was his first with multiple touchdown passes,” McElroy said. “All right. He hit (Jaden) Greathouse on the one, and then I love the designed screen throwback to (Jeremiyah) Love, which was a big touchdown down the left side. So, there’s an awful lot to like about what we saw from Mike Denbrock.
“I really liked what we saw from Mike Denrock the offensive coordinator, a highly, highly compensated offensive coordinator,” he added. “Bring him up from LSU, and this is the type of performance that you would anticipate. My goodness, they have improved drastically. That was a good defense that they played against. That was a really good defensive line. I think that’s a group that has talent in the back end, and I thought Notre Dame’s offensive performance was rock solid.”
McElroy praised quarterback Riley Leonard’s growth and development. He then went on to speak highly of the defense, especially with the injuries it has been dealing with.
He ended by pointing out that the Irish have been playing well in 15-minute chunks.
“I’d love to see it for 60 minutes because we haven’t yet seen it for 60 minutes from Notre Dame,” McElroy said. “We’ve seen it in really 15-minute increments, whether it’s the fourth quarter against Texas A&M, whether it’s the one quarter of dominance and brilliance against Louisville in the first quarter. I’d love to see it for 60 because if they can do it for 60, they could play with anybody.”
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Jeremiyah Love has been a huge part of the Notre Dame offense today — and all season.
Running back Jeremiyah Love has been carrying the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on his back a lot this season.
He just put the Irish back up by two scores against the Louisville Cardinals with 9:16 remaining in the game when he took a pass from quarterback Riley Leonard 32 yards for a touchdown.
That score capped off a 5-play, 75-yard drive that took 2:09 off the clock. It also gave some momentum back to the Irish after a Louisville field goal made it a one-touchdown game. That Louisville field goal came one play after what looked like a sack and scoop and score by the Notre Dame defense was overturned to an incomplete pass upon replay review.
Love’s touchdown hasn’t quite sealed the deal — there’s still a lot of time left — but it has put the Irish in charge of the ball game.
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Notre Dame’s Xavier Watts continues to make big plays.
The Louisville Cardinals were driving against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish after forcing the Irish to punt. It looked like the Cardinals would have a solid shot at the end zone for a potentially game-tying touchdown.
Then a deflected Tyler Shough pass ended up in the hands of Irish safety Xavier Watts. Watts returned it 34 yards to the Louisville 36.
Unfortunately, the Irish were unable to find the end zone on the ensuing drive — Jeremiyah Love was stuffed for a loss of three on a third-and-1 run. Notre Dame kicker Mitch Jeter hit a 48-yard field goal, so the Irish didn’t come up totally empty.
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Notre Dame took a two-touchdown lead over Louisville with this play.
It didn’t take long for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to take advantage of a bad snap on a Louisville Cardinals’ punt.
Just one play later, Fighting Irish quarterback Riley Leonard ran it in from the 4-yard line with 2:40 left to play in the first quarter to give the Irish a 21-7 lead over the Cardinals.
This after Notre Dame fell behind 7-0 to start the game.
It’s been a turnover-marred, back-and-forth affair so far, but the Irish haven’t looked flat early the way they have in games earlier this season. This could be a white-knuckler all the way to the finish.
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Notre Dame got a break with a bad snap on a Louisville punt.
Securing the football has been difficult for both teams as No. 16 Notre Dame hosts No. 15 Louisville in South Bend today.
The Louisville Cardinals were set to punt from their own 49 but the snap was too high. Notre Dame special teamer Jordan Faison pushed the ball further upfield and Fighting Irish linebacker Kennedy Urlacher — son of NFL star Brian — recovered, setting the Irish up with first and goal at the Louisville 4-yard line.
The play continued a huge swing of momentum in Notre Dame’s favor.
Jordan Faison making plays 😤
AND @NDlacrosse was waiting for him in the end zone 😂☘️
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Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard hits a big touchdown pass against Louisville.
Shortly after the Notre Dame Fighting Irish recovered a huge fumble against the Louisville Cardinals, Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard found a wide-open Jaden Greathouse for a 34-yard touchdown pass.
This capped a 4-play, 53-yard touchdown drive that also featured a 16-yard run from Irish running back Jadarian Price. The drive took 2:05 off the clock.
The score gave the Fighting Irish a 14-7 lead with 4:59 remaining in the first quarter.
Notre Dame needed a fast start after struggling early in every game except the blowout over Purdue, and so far the Irish have achieved that.
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