Paul Finebaum explains why 10-man mishap could cost Notre Dame a potential CFP spot

No. 9 Notre Dame dropped what many believe to be its most important game this season, losing to No. 6 Ohio State at home 17-14 thanks to a Buckeye touchdown as regulation expired.

What makes the last-second score even more frustrating is the fact that the Irish played the final two snaps with 10 men on the field. Could this loss come back to haunt them down the line? Absolutely, according to Paul Finebaum.

“I thought, isn’t there supposed to be a coach on the sidelines that is supposed to be in charge of that? And there are, the defensive coaches, the position coaches, the head coach,” Finebaum said on SportsCenter Sunday morning. “That was a major mishap for Notre Dame and it very likely cost them a spot in the playoffs.

“I know some Irish fans are waking up this morning and are saying, ‘You can’t say that, we have many more games to play.’ Well, that was the biggest game on your calendar against probably the best team you’ll see — maybe USC — but this was at home and you have to win those games. The Irish’s arrogance about not being in a conference could come back to cost them because they don’t have a conference championship game to make it up.”

As Finebaum pointed out, being an independent program can be a double-edged sword. Notre Dame has the freedom to schedule any program they’d like — with typically a couple of behemoths on the schedule to beef up their College Football Playoff hopes — but if the Irish lose either of those games (this year it’s Ohio State and USC), their season is automatically over.

The best case scenario for Notre Dame at this point is to hope that USC is the No. 1 team in the country by the time they play on Oct. 14. At No. 5, that certainly is not guaranteed. On top of that, they have to win out for the rest of the regular season with wiggle room for a second loss. After all, a two-loss team has never made the CFP and likely won’t under the current four-team format.

Of course, it’s not impossible. The Irish will take a step back and likely move out of the AP Top 25 poll’s top 10, but a win over No. 18 Duke this weekend is more than enough to point them in the right direction. They also play Clemson in early November, but a win over the Tigers is looking less attractive by the week — especially in the eyes of the selection committee.