Skip to main content

Notre Dame To The College Football Playoff In Latest Bowl Projections

ESPN projects Notre Dame to the College Football Playoff in its latest bowl projections

Notre Dame got off to a 4-0 start, but it wasn't overly impressive, as the Irish didn't knock out poor opponents like Duke, Florida State and Louisville. That changed this weekend, as the Fighting Irish destroyed Pitt by a 45-3 score.

That impressive victory was apparently enough for one ESPN college football writer to put the Irish in the College Football Playoff in the latest bowl projections.

In their weekly bowl projections update, ESPN college football writers Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach see the winning ways continuing for Notre Dame.

Schlabach has Notre Dame slated to play Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, which is one of this year's semi-final games for the College Football Playoff.

Last week Schlabach had the Irish in the Orange Bowl, and Clemson was the only ACC representative in the playoff. Now, Schlabach has both Notre Dame and Clemson in the playoff, which likely means he sees the Irish and Tigers each winning a game against each other.

Notre Dame and Clemson are slated to face each other in South Bend on Nov. 7, but right now they are the only two undefeated programs in the ACC, which means if things continue in the current form they will get a rematch in the Dec. 19 ACC title game.

Bonagura still has Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl, where they are now slated to play Wisconsin.

ESPN also has a weekly CFP projection from 14 total writers, including Schlabach and Bonagura. Last week, only one writer (Alex Scarborough) had the Irish in the final four. This week, 11 of the 14 writers have Notre Dame in the playoff as a four seed. Four writers have Notre Dame slated to play Alabama, seven others have a round three matchup with Clemson.

———————

Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content, our premium message board and gets you a FREE subscription to Sports Illustrated! Click on the link below for more

BECOME A MEMBER

Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!

Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes.
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Follow me on Parler: @BryanDriskell
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook

Sign up for the FREE Irish Breakdown daily newsletter