Few teams in college football truly control their paths. By now, fans have gotten used to checking the scoreboard and rooting for teams they’ve beaten, in hopes of improving their strength-of-schedule numbers.
Notre Dame’s a deserving CFP No. 3 right now, but its entire resume can sink or soar in Week 10
One of the perils of being an independent Playoff contender: having so many rooting interests.
Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images
But for most teams in most weeks, those wins and losses are a wash, this time of year. If a team in your division beats another team in your division, those wins and losses are still contained on your schedule. If a team from your conference’s other division beats up on your division, well, now you’ve got a more highly ranked opponent to beat in the conference title game.
Not really the case for Notre Dame, which plays teams from all over and doesn’t have a conference title game in which it can consolidate all of a league’s gains.
Notre Dame’s main case for its No. 3 spot in 2017’s first College Football Playoff rankings: it’s beaten three ranked teams, more than anybody else.
Being the only team to take No. 1 Georgia to the limit is also high on that list.
Look at what those three ranked teams are up to this weekend:
- No. 17 USC hosts the surging No. 22 Arizona as about a touchdown favorite
- No. 20 NC State hosts No. 4 Clemson as about a touchdown underdog
- No. 24 Michigan State hosts No. 7 Penn State as about a touchdown underdog
Those three teams could go anywhere from 0-3 to 3-0. Notre Dame’s body of work could end up anywhere from pretty good to incredible.
Meanwhile, the Irish host a decent Wake Forest. If a couple of those three teams lose, don’t be surprised to see the Irish fall despite picking up a solid win, especially if Clemson is one of the winners.
Notre Dame’s future schedule can also fluctuate wildly this weekend.
Here’s what the remaining teams on the Irish gauntlet are up to:
- No. 10 Miami hosts No. 13 Virginia Tech as a slight underdog
- No. 21 Stanford is a slight dog at No. 25 Washington State
- Navy’s a road favorite at Temple
Same story here. Anywhere between 0-3 and 3-0.
The Irish are still in good shape, but this is a really crucial weekend, for reasons totally beyond their control.
Notre Dame can finish the weekend with wins over the likely Pac-12 South winner, the likely ACC Atlantic winner, and the Big Ten East’s No. 2 team, and potential wins over the likely ACC Coastal and Pac-12 North winners (Stanford hosts Washington) ... or with like one ranked win that’s trumped by those of Clemson, Oklahoma, Ohio State, and so on.
Independent life.
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