Notre Dame football falls to SEC dark horse in way too early college football playoff predictions
The 2024 college football season was a great step for the Notre Dame program. After a 14-2 overall season, and a national title game berth, the Fighting Irish are on a tremendous trajectory under head coach Marcus Freeman. That has raised the expectation big time heading into next fall. With another playoff run already on […]
The 2024 college football season was a great step for the Notre Dame program. After a 14-2 overall season, and a national title game berth, the Fighting Irish are on a tremendous trajectory under head coach Marcus Freeman. That has raised the expectation big time heading into next fall.
With another playoff run already on the minds of Irish fans, it’s going to be a centralized topic this entire offseason. On3 college football analyst Ari Wasserman recently released his way too early prediction for the college football playoffs, and how he sees the bracket shaking out.
He does have Notre Dame finding a spot again in the field, coming in as the No. 6 seed overall. In this hypothetical, Wasserman has the Fighting Irish taking on the No. 11 South Carolina Gamecocks in the first round. Unfortunately, that’s where he sees the Notre Dame playoff push ending.
No. 11 South Carolina vs. No. 6 Notre Dame
It took a leap of faith to have South Carolina in the CFP. It’s not that I don’t think the Gamecocks are going to be very good. There is no question quarterback LaNorris Sellers is one of the best in the country. And one of the best overall players in college football is South Carolina edge Dylan Stewart. There’s also a lot to like about left tackle Josiah Stewart. But if you look at South Carolina’s schedule in the second half of the season, six of their final seven games are against LSU, Oklahoma, Alabama, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Clemson. That’s nasty. Even a really good team may not make it through that. I’m going to roll the dice on Shane Beamer picking up some big wins and only losing two, which would assuredly put them in this spot.
Notre Dame, meanwhile, returns a ton of talent from last year’s team that advanced to the national title game. It has to replace quarterback Riley Leonard, sure, but the Irish return running back Jeremiyah Love, the best offensive line in the sport and a really solid defense. I’m also really high on receiver Jaden Greathouse emerging as a big star next year.
I’m going to go with South Carolina in this spot, though. If the Gamecocks prove me right and handle that schedule, they will be battle-tested and ready to ride once they get to the postseason — an opportunity this year’s team didn’t get despite being one of the hottest squads in the nation down the stretch.
On paper, the Gamecocks should be a good team in 2025. As Wasserman mentioned, they return Sellers, who is one of the most dynamic dual threat quarterbacks in all of college football. Stewart is also excellent, and arguably the most gifted pass rusher in the entire country. That is quite a duo to build around.
The major issue with this projection is that South Carolina is going to be replacing their leading rusher, leading receiver, top three leading tacklers, your leader in sacks and tackles for loss, best three defensive tackles, best overall defender, as well as your top kicker and punter. That is a lot of turnover in one offseason.
While Notre Dame has their own list of questions to answer before the fall begins, they also bring back a ton of talent. If this was the first round matchup in the end, assuming health wasn't a major issue, I like the home team's chances.
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