College football these days is all about finishing in the top four by the time the regular season comes to an end. How you get there doesn’t matter as much as the simple fact that you do it and that earns you the College Football Playoff berth.
Notre Dame has earned a berth for the CFP twice so far and if things go well, could earn a third this season. Tough tasks await, though, as some of the best programs in all of college football hit Notre Dame’s schedule this fall.
Chip Patterson of TSWT Sports released his 1-131 preseason college football poll and he had Notre Dame just outside that all-important top four when they finished sixth. Perhaps just as importantly, two Notre Dame opponents for 2022 were ranked ahead of the Irish as Clemson checked in fifth and Ohio State second.
Patterson placed USC 12th, BYU just outside the top 25 at 26, and then no 2022 Notre Dame opponents showed up until North Carolina checked in at 46.
The rest of Notre Dame’s opponents in 2022 were ranked as follows:
55. Boston College
71. Stanford
75. Cal
76. Marshall
89. Syracuse
103. Navy
116. UNLV
It’s very top-heavy as you can see, but manageable at the same time. Even with a loss at Ohio State to open the year, Notre Dame’s talent should be good enough to win 10 games this regular season, if not more.
And if it is more than that, those in power will have a hard time keeping Notre Dame out of the CFP with an 11-1 point against Ohio State, Clemson, USC and BYU, among others.
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The story originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire
