Joel Klatt predicts Notre Dame to fall out of College Football Playoff

Joel Klatt believes Notre Dame’s grip on a College Football Playoff spot is slipping and slipping fast. The Fighting Irish came in at No. 10 on Tuesday evening, but No. 11 BYU and No. 12 Miami could surpass them by Sunday afternoon.

According to Klatt, it’s not a prediction, it’s a spoiler. On the latest episode of The Joel Klatt Show, the FOX Sports analyst laid out why he expects the Fighting Irish to drop out of the 12-team field despite their strong résumé and 10-game win streak that they’re currently on.

While he acknowledged that Notre Dame is the better team than Miami right now, the Hurricanes hold the all-important win over the Fighting Irish: “If we were to play that matchup on a neutral site this weekend, I would pick Notre Dame,” Klatt stated. “They would be favored.”

However, in his view, the committee’s process, and the head-to-head reality of the rankings, puts Marcus Freeman’s program in serious jeopardy. “I don’t see a scenario where Notre Dame stays in the playoff,” Klatt added. “If I was a betting man, I would bet on Notre Dame falling out of the playoff.”

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At the core of the argument against them is their loss to Miami. While Notre Dame has arguably looked stronger overall, Miami’s résumé hasn’t cratered by any means, and the head-to-head result looms over everything.

Klatt explained that the mechanics behind the rankings could easily flip the two teams though: “It’s plausible to see where all of a sudden either BYU jumps them, or BYU falls behind Miami and then they’re in a direct comparison in a head-to-head matchup, in which they lost to Miami.”

Once the two programs sit side-by-side in the committee room, Klatt says there’s no way the Irish can stay ahead: “Every single tiebreak known to man starts with head-to-head,” he emphasized. “I think it would be impossible for the committee to rank Miami behind Notre Dame, even though I think Notre Dame would beat Miami this weekend.”

It’s a stark warning for a team that rattled off ten straight wins after an 0-2 start. Notre Dame’s postseason hopes may now hinge entirely on how the final weekend’s results shake the rankings elsewhere.

Whether it’s a BYU victory locking them into the Playoff or a loss from the Cougars making Notre Dame’s comparison with Miami more direct, Klatt isn’t convinced the Irish are safe, and neither should anyone else in college football be.