(Photo: Oliver Tapia)
First and Fitzharris: A Weekly Look at Notre Dame Football
The result against Stanford was never in doubt for the Irish. Despite kickoff at 10:34 p.m. eastern time and ending around 2:30 a.m., the Irish rolled against the Stanford Cardinal with a final score of 49-20. Yes, the second half was far from perfect for the Irish, as the defense gave up 17 points in the second half, which is the most the Irish have given up in the second half all year. However, the Cardinal scored 14 of those 17 points in the fourth quarter, with mainly the second-string defense taking most of the snaps.
Jeremiyah Love Injury, Heisman Hopes Take a Hit
After Jeremiyah Love ran for 50+ yards and a touchdown on the first drive of the game, it seemed as though Love was going to make a final push to take home the Heisman trophy. Unfortunately, on the second possession of the game, Notre Dame fans held their breath as Love went down with an apparent injury, and seemed to be in serious pain. I couldn’t help but refreshing my X feed every five seconds hoping for the best news possible. I’ll admit – I was on edge and seriously concerned about the Irish and its College Football Playoff hopes for a good 30 minutes. My blood pressure skyrocketed when Marcus Freeman said this at halftime: “He’s hurt.” However, after Love went to the locker room, he returned back into the game and Irish fans were able to breath. Any serious injury Love suffered was ruled out for the time being. I was finally able to breath, and put my phone down for a few minutes.
Love’s final stat line of 72 total yards from scrimmage and a single touchdown will likely not be enough for Love to take home the most prestigious individual award in college football. However, Love should still be in New York for the Heisman ceremony along with Julian Sayin, Fernando Mendoza, and Diego Pavia.
It’s a Waiting Game…
Irish fans, it is time to grab some Texas Tech gear and hope the Red Raiders beat the BYU Cougars at noon on Saturday in the Big 12 Championship Game. Here’s the bottom line: if the Cougars (who opened as +11.5 underdogs) upset the Red Raiders, the Irish are in serious trouble. In this scenario, this would mean that BYU is in the College Football Playoff along with Texas Tech, pushing either Alabama or Notre Dame out of the playoff. The committee has always stated that they will not punish a team for losing in its conference championship game, but if Alabama loses, they will likely still be behind Notre Dame. Another situation to consider is this: say BYU wins and Alabama loses. That would mean BYU claims an auto bid, and Alabama would likely drop below Miami, which would put Miami one spot behind the Irish. If Miami is only a sport behind the Irish, would the committee take a closer look at the head-to-head matchup, and give Miami the final edge? Of course, if Alabama wins in this scenario, it’s an automatic bid, and the Irish are the first team out. That is the ultimate doomsday scenario.
Now that the bad news is out of the way, it’s time for the good news! The odds of both BYU and Alabama winning is very slim, that likely both would need to happen to push the Irish out of the College Football Playoff. Notre Dame also has an 88% chance to make the College Football Playoff according to the Allstate Playoff Predictor. Notre Dame is also third in the Football Power Index and fifth in the SP+ rankings. A final note is that the committee has loved Notre Dame this year, and rightfully so. Notre Dame has won 10 straight games, all by double digits. Freeman gave the committee a final thought heading into Championship Week: “You want the 12 best teams now. It’s hard for me to believe that there are 12 better teams than Notre Dame as we consider who should be in the playoffs.
Case closed.