Playoff berth 'not out of reach' for Notre Dame after Ohio State loss

Notre Dame squandered a chance to notch a big win for its College Football Playoff resume as it lost 17-14 to Ohio State on Saturday evening. The Fighting Irish held a 14-10 advantage when the Buckeyes came up with a defensive stop to take over with 1:26 remaining.

They would go on to make several mistakes down the stretch, including playing with only 10 men on the field for the final two plays, as Ohio State punched in the game-winning score with one second remaining.

As demoralizing as the loss was, however, it’s not the end of the season. As On3‘s Andy Staples and JD PicKell discussed on Staples’ podcast Sunday, the Fighting Irish still have a chance to earn some quality wins, namely in a Week 7 matchup against No. 8 USC.

“If I’m Notre Dame, I’m sick over what happened,” Staples said. “There was a dropped interception on the last drive that would’ve won them the game. Obviously, they gave up a third-and-19. They should’ve been able to close that game out and they didn’t. They had 10 men on the field in the last play. No excuses for that.

“But if you are Notre Dame, you probably didn’t immediately go watch USC-Arizona State, but you might’ve caught some highlights. If you’re Notre Dame and you saw USC and Arizona State, you’re looking at that and going ‘We can beat them.’ If Notre Dame can beat USC, the Playoff’s not out of reach.”

The Trojans allowed the Sun Devils to hang around a little too long Saturday as they clung to a 24-21 lead at the 9:25 mark of the third quarter. That was as close as it got as USC went on to win 42-28, but it was still a one-touchdown game until Caleb Williams threw a 45-yard touchdown to Tahj Washington with 7:07 remaining.

That shaky performance should give Notre Dame hope it can beat the Trojans, but they aren’t its only opportunity at a resume-boosting victory. PicKell pointed to Clemson, which the Fighting Irish play in Week 10, as another.

The Tigers have already suffered a pair of early losses, but hung with No. 5 Florida State until the end on Saturday in a 31-24 overtime loss. Considering most of what plagued Notre Dame on Saturday were “self-inflicted wounds,” it should still have a good shot to win both of those games.

“You’re rooting for Clemson hard the rest of the way,” PicKell said. “You’re thanking everyone you know that you have (USC) as a ranked opponent. So there’s definitely still some runway here. Even just internally for Marcus Freeman and company, it sucks. There’s no way it doesn’t hurt today watching the film. But you have to feel like if that’s a College Football Playoff contender pretty much every year and we’re having 10 men on the field on the final drive, we’re dropping interceptions and we’re shooting ourselves in the foot. We’re drawing up a screen pass on second down.

“We have all these self-inflicted wounds and we lose by three points to Ohio State. We’re that close. You don’t take moral victories, but I don’t think there’s any way, shape or form we should count out Notre Dame when it comes to this Playoff race.”

Other than USC and Clemson, though, Notre Dame will have a chance to bounce back immediately this week when it travels to Durham to face No. 17 Duke. The Blue Devils have been one of college football’s biggest surprises so far after beating Clemson in Week 1 and are off to a 4-0 start.

If the Fighting Irish are able to come away with a win there, it would take the focus off of last week’s collapse in a hurry. Then moving forward, they’d be in position to potentially make the CFP as a one-loss team.

“I think their schedule is hard enough,” Staples said. “Especially if Clemson continues to play well. If they are the Clemson that we saw against Florida State yesterday, there’s a really good chance we see a Notre Dame-Clemson game that means something. Obviously, they’re still gonna have to beat USC.

“They’re gonna have to beat Duke this week. That’s gonna be a very tough game, especially bouncing back from what happened to them this week. They cannot let this linger. They can’t let it beat them twice. They’ve gotta be ready when they go to Durham because Mike Elko and company will beat them if they’re not careful.” 

Kickoff between Notre Dame and Duke is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday in Durham.