Lou Holtz takes shot at Lee Corso, predicts Notre Dame will win national championship

Lou Holtz is once again picking Notre Dame to win the national championship this season. The former Fighting Irish coach made the declaration Tuesday at the Orlando Touchdown Club.

After former College GameDay co-host Lee Corso made his pick, declaring Indiana would win, Holtz joked that Corso an “out of work comedian.” He then made his pick, saying that he expected Notre Dame to win another championship while he was still alive.

Of course, the Fighting Irish advanced to the championship last season but lost against Ohio State. Perhaps they can rectify that this season to make Holtz’s prediction come true.

Notre Dame is currently secured a spot in the College Football Playoff, coming in at No. 9 in the latest rankings. If they defeat Stanford this week, it would seem that they will have locked up their place in the 12-team bracket.

Notre Dame has 11 national championships in its history but has not won one since 1988, when Lou Holtz was still the coach. Now 88 years old, he’s hopeful he can witness them bring another trophy home to South Bend this season.

Heather Dinich reveals why latest rankings make Notre Dame a ‘lock’ for College Football Playoff

Notre Dame’s No. 9 ranking is important because of who the Irish are ranked ahead, including Alabama, coming in at No. 10, and Miami at No. 13 in the country. That has them positioned to be a lock to make the CFP. It’s a spot that ESPN reporter Heather Dinich explained on Wednesday during an appearance on Get Up.

“The fact that Notre Dame is ranked ahead of Alabama leads me to believe that if they run the table, they are the closest thing to a lock,” Heather Dinich said. “That’s because the committee rewarded the Irish because they have better losses than Alabama. They continue to point out that season-opening loss to Florida State, but Alabama has four wins against CFP Top-22 teams, including the committee’s No. 4 team in Georgia.”

Additionally, the Fighting Irish’s losses this season both came against teams ranked in the CFP top 25 in Texas A&M and Miami. They also won’t play in a conference championship game like many of the other playoff hopefuls, so if they close out the regular season with a win, it should get them in.

“So, when you look at that, they talked about Notre Dame having two close losses to Miami and Texas A&M by a total of four points. Speaking of Miami, Notre Dame is past them too,” Dinich said. “Because the selection committee is still not honoring that season-opening, head-to-head win.”

On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this report.