After the win at Stanford last Saturday, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team finished the regular season by going 11-1.  They finished the season ranked 6 in the College Football Playoff Poll.  The question is: How can Notre Dame have a chance to get into the Playoffs?

There are many different ways in which Notre Dame can potentially be in the playoffs.  One way is if #3 Alabama loses to #1 Georgia in the SEC Championship on Saturday.  If Alabama wins however, Notre Dame will not be in the playoffs because that would be Georgia’s first loss and it is from a top 4 team so they would most likely not be kicked out of the playoffs.  If Alabama loses, they will be most likely miss out on the playoffs and #5 Oklahoma State will be most likely be in.

Another way in which Notre Dame could get in the playoffs is if #4 Cincinnati loses to Houston on Saturday.  Even if Houston did pull off the upset, It is doubtful that Notre Dame would get in since they lost to Cincinnati earlier in the season and Cincinnati lost to an unranked team.  Therefore Oklahoma State would get in the playoffs.

The final scenario that would give the Irish the best chance to get into the playoffs is if #5 Oklahoma State loses to #9 Baylor in the Big 12 Championship.  If Michigan or Oklahoma State loses then they will be kicked out of the playoffs since they would have had two loses and Notre Dame would get in.  Notre Dame’s chances of making the playoffs look slim since they need two teams to lose instead of just one like Oklahoma State.

So if you watch the conference championships on Saturday, be sure to root for Iowa to beat Michigan, Georgia to beat Alabama, and Baylor to beat Oklahoma State.