Joel Klatt not sure Notre Dame controls its own destiny in College Football Playoff race

Notre Dame’s College Football Playoff hopes are always a topic of conversation due to the Fighting Irish being an independent program that cannot automatically punch a ticket to the playoffs with a conference title win. That talking point got even louder following their Week 2 upset loss to Northern Illinois.

The first College Football Playoff rankings were released on Tuesday and Notre Dame came in at No. 10. It’s a spot that college football analyst Joel Klatt believes puts the College Football Playoff hopes of the Fighting Irish in jeopardy even if they run the table to close out the regular season.

“What are we going to do with Notre Dame?” Klatt asked on Wednesday. “If you actually sit there and look at Notre Dame and you think to yourself, are they safe even if they win out? I think the answer is maybe. Right now they’re 7-1, their best wins are Louisville, Navy, and then the big one that’s going to help them Texas A&M in that opening week of the season in College Station.”

According to Klatt, Notre Dame’s strength of schedule ranks 75th in the country. With their lone upset loss doing them no favors and not a ton of opportunities to add any statement wins to their resume in their final four games of the regular season.

“So let’s just play this out. They beat Florida State, they should, Virginia, Army, and USC, and they’re sitting there as an 11-1. Okay, well they would probably be sitting about where they’re at. You start to play this out, and what happens if Alabama beats LSU? Aren’t they going to pass Notre Dame?” Klatt asked. “Yes, likely they would. What happens if LSU beats Alabama? Wouldn’t they probably pass Notre Dame? They probably would.”

Klatt continued to lay out scenarios where ranked teams like Texas A&M and SMU currently ranked behind Notre Dame could pass them in the rankings with wins over ranked teams on their schedule. Something the Fighting Irish will only be able to do against No. 25 ranked Army in three weeks.

“What happens if one of those teams, Iowa State, Kansas State, Colorado, get into the Big 12 Championship game and beat BYU? Well now you’re starting to be compared as an 11-1 against 12-1 Miami, 11-1 Indiana, 12-1 BYU, 10-2 Alabama, or 10-2 LSU, or 10-2 Texas A&M,” Klatt explained. “The best case scenario would be if they could be compared directly to Texas A&M, because they would have the head to head win over them from the beginning of the year.”

Notre Dame winning the remainder of their games in dominant fashion would definitely help their playoff chances. But with plenty of other marquee matchups happening across the country between ranked teams and a multitude of possible outcomes, the postseason fate of the Fighting Irish may take a little bit of luck as well.

“I don’t think it’s a guarantee that Notre Dame controls their own destiny, and that was kind of evident after we started really diving in and looking at this,” Klatt concluded. “And I think Notre Dame right now as the 10 seed, they seem to be fine and safe now. But I just don’t trust where they’re at based on what’s behind them, and the games that those teams still have to play.”