Pat McAfee names college football program facing a 'must-win' game

ESPN personality Pat McAfee rarely fails to share an opinion, and his take on which significant program can't afford a Week 12 loss was a solid one. While they're certainly not in a coach firing situation, in terms of the College Football Playoff, McAfee's contention that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have to handle the Pittsburgh Panthers in Week 12 is a solid one.

McAfee's points

Speaking about the Irish on College GameDay, Mc Afee said, "For Notre Dame, this is a must-win game." He further admitted that Pitt "is no stranger to being a massive derailer of a season that has high hopes."

Notre Dame's CFP climb

For Notre Dame, after an 0-2 start, the College Football Playoff seemed likely out of reach. But those losses-- by a combined four points-- to Miami and Texas A&M have both aged fairly well. And since then, the Irish have rebounded by not only playing undefeated football, but frankly, not being even approached. The closest game for Notre Dame since the two opening losses was a 34-24 win over now-No. 17 USC.

Scheduling situation for ND

But the Irish also only have one more game remaining on the slate against a ranked team, and it's today's battle at No. 23 Pittsburgh. A loss would leave Notre Dame 1-3 against ranked teams, with no more opportunities to boost the resume meaningfully against Syracuse or Stanford.

Of course, the converse of McAfee's statement is that the Irish are in solid CFP shape and if they can take care of business against Pitt, they should cruise into the CFP with a pair of 3-7 opponents ahead and no conference championship game to trip them up.

Pittsburgh's challenging finish

Pittsburgh's season in some ways mirrors Notre Dame's. The Panthers also have only two losses and they also came back-to-back, against West Virginia and Louisville. Otherwise, only a three-point win over Florida State has been close. But the Panthers, with a 5-1 conference record, finish their schedule with three straight ranked foes-- Notre Dame today, then at Georgia Tech and at home against Miami to close the regular season.

Rumors around Freeman

Notre Dame has also doubtlessly been hearing the rumors on Marcus Freeman considering a move to another program. The 39 year-old head coach is one of the top national targets, and has recently tried to calm the rumors on that front. That whole storyline is just another point of attention going around a challening game that McAfee rightly projects as a "must-win."