Thanks to a late-game comeback engineered by rising star, quarterback DeShone Kizer, Notre Dame (No. 9) still has a shot at making it into the College Football Playoff.
With just 2:09 remaining in regulation, the Irish saw their playoff hopes quickly waning. But thanks to the efforts of Kizer and Mr. Clutch, receiver Will Fuller, the Irish defeated the No. 21-ranked Temple Owls at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Saturday night, 24-20.
In the only NCAA game of the weekend that featured two ranked teams, Temple controlled most of the second half and had many Irish fans questioning if this was another overrated Notre Dame football team. But Notre Dame critics shouldn’t be so quick to write off the 7-1 Irish just yet.
Despite losing to No. 3 Clemson on the road in hurricane like conditions earlier this season, the Irish have been outstanding in 2015. They survived scares at Virginia in Week 2 and at Temple on Saturday — both thanks to last minute touchdown passes from Kizer to Philadelphia native Will Fuller. To date, the Irish are outscoring opponents 292 to 178 and are the third-highest ranked one-loss team (Alabama was No. 7 and Stanford No. 8 heading into Week 9).
The problem for the Irish might not be their strength of schedule or any matter within their direct control. If Notre Dame has any plans at making the postseason, they are going to need to win out and win big. They only have one game left against a ranked opponent, which will be at Stanford in the last game of the year.
More importantly, they will need some of the top undefeated teams to lose at least one, if not two, games (OSU, Baylor, TCU, LSU, MSU and Clemson). No team has looked better than the Clemson Tigers, but both TCU and Baylor have extremely tough second-half schedules which could result in a couple losses.
Assuming Ohio State and Clemson run the table, that leaves the final two playoff spots for one-loss teams, and Notre Dame will most definitely be in that discussion. They have arguably the toughest schedule in college football year in and year out (thanks to being Independent) and are playing with a depleted roster due to injury. In recent history, the Irish are also a solid fourth-quarter team, with 13 wins since 2010 when trailing in the fourth quarter.
Led by a stellar defensive that features future first-round NFL draft picks Sheldon Day and Jaylon Smith, the Irish have been winning with a “bend, don’t break” mentality all season. They come up with the big play when needed, especially Keivarae Russell’s game-sealing interceptions against USC and Temple.
Notre Dame’s offense has also been electrifying, led by Kizer, Fuller and running back C.J. Prosise. Whether it is a quarterback draw, handoff up the middle or deep ball down the field, the Irish have as many offensive threats than any other college football team in the country. When the defense and offense play to their full capabilities, the team from South Bend is darn-near unstoppable.
There was a ton of hype around Saturday night’s contest with ESPN’s “College GameDay” hosting its show in Philadelphia. The primetime matchup even had many professional athletes making comments, like former NFL defensive back Brian Dawkins.
All I know is, at the end of the day… @CollegeGameDay was in the right place @Temple_FB @NDFootball
— Brian Dawkins (@BrianDawkins) November 1, 2015
Fuller was predictably thrilled with his game-winning touchdown catch.
https://twitter.com/Will_Fuller7/status/660689619558768640
Notre Dame is now 16-0 in games played on Halloween, and it will need to go undefeated in its remaining four games (Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, Boston College and no. 8 Stanford) to have a shot at the playoffs. If the Irish can get some help from other top 10 teams and can dominate their remaining games, Notre Dame has a serious chance at making the final four.