Kyle Rudolph on Notre Dame's chances of winning national title: 'It's going to be tough'

Former NFL tight end Kyle Rudolph is ready to see Notre Dame make a run in the College Football Playoff but knows the road to a national title will not be easy. On3 recently asked Rudolph about what Notre Dame needs to do to win its first championship since the 1988 season.

“It’s going to be tough. Now you’ve got to go as a team that’s not a conference champion,” Rudolph told On3. “You’re going to have to win four games and it’s ultimately four games after a tough season. Never have these guys played 16 games in a year. I mean, that’s almost a full NFL season, but I’m extremely excited.

“…It won’t be easy, but you got to like the way it shakes out. Ultimately, we kind of get our bi-week this week, then you got to win a home game. Ultimately you got to win a bowl game after that, and then you’re in the semifinal and you got to just, again, kind of like the NFL, you got to get hot at the right time and if you can regroup after a long season with the week off this week and then continue the momentum that they’ve had over the last two and a half months since the early loss, I think they have as good a chance as anybody.”

Notre Dame finished fifth in the College Football Playoff Rankings and will host Indiana in the first round next weekend. After losing their home opener against Northern Illinois in September, the Fighting Irish won the rest of the games on their schedule, including victories against then-undefeated Navy, nationally-ranked opponents Louisville and Army and USC.

Kyle Rudolph explains why he likes the new playoff format

Kyle Rudolph played for Notre Dame from 2008 to 2010 and caught 90 passes for 1,032 yards and eight touchdowns in 29 career games. At the time, the BCS determined the national champion, but Rudolph said he likes the new format.

“I think what 12 teams has done, not only does it now give more teams the opportunity to go on and win a national championship, but I just think about how exciting the last three to four weeks of the college football season has been,” Rudolph said.

“You look at the conference realignment with the Big 10 and the SEC, these teams, you got Texas and Georgia battling it out for an SEC championship. We’ve got Oregon and Penn State. These teams that historically would’ve been playing in their own Pac-12, Big 12 championship games, Big Ten SEC, and now you have these incredible football programs that are going to be battling it out for conference championships. And I think it’s just really made the last four weeks of the regular season that much more exciting. You don’t know how it’s going to shake out.”