Can Notre Dame Make the College Football Playoff? October Outlook

Notre Dame (2-2) has a long way to go to get back to the College Football Playoff, but the good news is the path to get there appears relatively calm.

There are no teams currently ranked that remain on Notre Dame's schedule, which is a blessing and a curse. A blessing in that the chances of earning wins is higher, but the impression those victories leave ends up less.

So what are Notre Dame's chances of making the College Football Playoff as it sits winners of its last two, and needing to win 10-straight to have a chance?

Here's where a variety of national writers see Notre Dame headed this postseason after Week 5 of the college football season, and as you'd expect, the final destination for the Irish in 2025 has a wide reach.

ESPN Bowl Projections: Notre Dame to San Diego

In the ESPN bowl projections this week, both Bonagura and Schlabach have Notre Dame headed to play in the Holiday Bowl. Bonagura goes with the Irish taking on Washington while Schlabach sees a date with Kenny Dillingham and Arizona State in the future.

College Football News Bowl Projections: Another Date with Georgia?

Notre Dame knocked off SEC Champion Georgia last year in the Sugar Bowl and Pete Fiutak of College Football News has the two meeting again this winter. Fiutak has Notre Dame traveling to Georgia for a first round CFP matchup.

USA Today Sports Bowl Projections: Rematch in College Football Playoff

USA Today's latest bowl projections call for Notre Dame to make it back into the dance. It has Notre Dame as a lower seed and traveling to Indiana for a first round matchup. It also projects the Irish to win that game and to head to the Rose Bowl where it has them losing to Ohio State (again).

Sports Illustrated Bowl Projections: Yipee for Orlando

Sports Illustrated's projections this week are the only ones we saw to have Notre Dame heading to Orlando for the Pop-Tarts Bowl. It has the Irish taking on Baylor.

CBS Sports Bowl Projections: Another Georgia Prediction

This week didn't find a whole lot of repetitive picks for Notre Dame's potentail bowl opponent, but CBS Sports has the same as College Football News, projecting the Irish to head to Georgia for a College Football Playoff game. CBS has Notre Dame as the 11-seed.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thought/Latest Prediction:

Is Notre Dame going to make it back to the College Football Playoff? Sometimes we overthink it. Although I don't think the defense is in a place yet that makes me feel great about Notre Dame's chances to run off ten-straight wins, I do feel better about it over the last six halves of football it played than I do its first two games.

The rest of college football is about to get hard and heavy into conference play, which means a bunch of losses for teams currently rated ahead of Notre Dame will be coming. For as much is being made about USC not being ranked, would beating a 20th ranked Trojans team mean that much more than beating one that is just outside the top 25?

There is a ton of football to be played, but a month in after already suffering two losses, I feel oddly well about Notre Dame's chances of returning to the playoff, and being able to win a game once they potentially do.