Entering Friday, No. 6 Notre Dame had an enviable resume to present to the College Football Playoff selection committee. The Fighting Irish have overcome a plague's worth of injuries to get to 10-1, and boasted wins over No. 15 Navy and No. 25 Temple and ones over eight-win Pittsburgh and talent-rich USC, still a potential Pac-12 South champion. Their only loss came to No. 1 Clemson, as locked into the top spot as can be.
Notre Dame didn’t play on Black Friday, but its Playoff case still took a hit
That showdown with Stanford is even more important now.
Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
The first window of action on Black Friday changed that. Navy went down at Houston, and hard, falling 52-31 to Tom Herman’s team, and Miami ruined Pitt’s Senior Day by taking a 23-3 halftime lead and hanging on for a 29-24 win over the Panthers.
Given the way the selection committee penalized Houston for its first loss, it seems like Navy is due for a fall, at least to a spot outside the top-20 of the rankings. Pittsburgh, which was among the leading vote-getters outside the top-25 in both major polls, won’t be arriving to provide another significant supplement to Notre Dame’s strength of schedule. And Temple’s positioning is precarious, with the Owls playing on Saturday against the UConn team that just upset Houston. If Temple beats the Huskies, they would then face Houston in the AAC Championship game.
Notre Dame’s not getting the benefit of the doubt in regards to its injuries, either, while Oklahoma has soared as a result of big wins over Baylor and TCU. The Irish’s hopes of adding another “big win” hinge on their Saturday meeting with No. 9 Stanford in Palo Alto. That now seems like a game Notre Dame can’t just win narrowly without fear of falling further in the rankings.
There’s arguably no team with a greater opportunity to impress this weekend than Notre Dame. But the Irish may really, really need that opportunity.
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