It was a bizarre weekend for head coach Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame football. Coming off a bye, most expected the Fighting Irish to overwhelm the Boston College Eagles, even while on the road. Bill O’Brien’s squad was struggling with a seven-game losing streak coming in, and on paper, it shouldn’t have been close. 

As you know, however, games aren’t won or lost on paper. Notre Dame won 25-10 on Saturday, but it was anything but impressive. Freeman’s squad struggled mightily with consistency throughout the contest, failing to exert any form of dominance on the offensive line, committing too many miscues, and allowing the Eagles to stay in the football game. 

The Irish are fighting hard to earn a spot in the College Football Playoffs, and the margin for error was already small going into this past weekend with two losses on their resume. The “a win is a win” crowd isn’t helpful right now, as the Irish need to stack some dominant performances on their resume. Without a conference championship opportunity and those early losses, leaving no doubt is the best-case scenario for the team. 

While the Notre Dame performance was far from perfect, if this team wins out, it’ll likely make the playoff field, but it is far from certain. Unfortunately, the margin for error became smaller this past weekend, and it had nothing to do with the Irish performance. In this playoff world, the Fighting Irish have to depend on others to take care of business. 

They didn’t. 

Notre Dame’s margin for error 

With there being a subjective reality for the playoffs, Notre Dame must consistently impress the playoff committee. As silly as it sounds, winning and losing isn’t all that matters anymore. There is such a thing as the quality of wins and losses. 

On the bright side, Notre Dame’s 36-7 victory over the NC State Wolfpack looks better today after they upset No. 8 Georgia Tech 48-36 over the weekend. It helps that the Yellowjackets were also a team in front of them, assisting in multiple ways. USC also defeated Nebraska 21-17 for a solid victory, which is important since the Trojans are the best win for Notre Dame right now. 

The good news ended there for the Irish. The biggest blow was No. 10 Miami losing to SMU 26-20 in overtime on Saturday. With the Hurricanes being one of the early-season losses for the Irish, you want Miami to win a lot in an ideal world. The more they lose, the worse that loss could look in the end. The quality of that loss continues to get worse. 

Boise State also lost to Fresno State in blowout fashion by a 30-7 margin over the weekend. Purdue lost to Michigan in a close battle, as did Arkansas in their matchup with Mississippi State. Many of your best wins so far took a hit during the weekend of action. 

Before the weekend, the biggest remaining game for the Irish was arguably the one against the Navy Midshipmen scheduled for this upcoming week. Undefeated going into their matchup with North Texas, they fell 31-17. It was a tough loss with the Irish faithful wanting them to be undefeated for their contest. 

The lone saving grace might be the Pittsburgh Panthers, who sit with a surprising 7-2 record. Even that type of win in the future won’t move the needle much for the committee. Without a great opponent left on the schedule, Notre Dame will have to hope to win out in a solid fashion, and that things go well for it with the other results outside of its control. 

It isn’t ideal, but Notre Dame is still very much in this playoff race, and it also has the inside track to making it in the end. Freeman’s squad would be best served by leaving no doubt in their remaining four regular season games. Too many more of these types of performances, and they could find themselves on the outside looking in when the final playoff field is set.

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Ryan Roberts