If Notre Dame Wants Another College Football Playoff Trip, It Has To Play Like It

Yeah, the Fighting Irish didn’t lose.

They actually won their football game Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana, and they did so against Boise State.

Boise State?

Yeah, the Broncos. They were shocked during their opener at South Florida after a bunch of preseason hype, but they recovered in a hurry. They met Notre Dame with a three-game winning streak, and it was powered by an offense that produced a collective 147 points during those victories.

“We knew that was going to be a tough team. They just have shown it,” said Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman after his Irish overcame their opponent as well as themselves (among other things, they had 11 penalties totalling 112 yards) for a 28-7 victory and a three-game winning streak following a 2-0 start.

“They’re not the second-winningest program since 2000 for no reason. That was a fundamentally sound, aggressive football team, and we knew they were going to be tough to beat.”

Yeah, well.

Um.

Here’s the bottom line for the 21st-ranked Irish in both major polls: If they wish to put at least another $20 million into their piggybanks with a second consecutive trip to the championship game of the College Football Playoff (CFP), they can’t afford to look as sloppy as they did against Boise State for long stretches since they dropped those opening two games of the season.

We’re back to those “yeahs” again.

Yeah, those were quality losses for Notre Dame against Top 10 teams Miami (Florida) and Texas A&M, and, yeah, they were by a total of four points.

Yeah, I also said the Irish “actually” won Saturday for a reason.

So many others didn’t.

While Top 10 teams Penn State and Texas fell to the previously struggling likes of UCLA and Florida respectively, Iowa State (ranked 14th by Associated Press and 12th by the coaches) lost to a visiting Cincinnati bunch that was 3-1 but that was so unimpressive to pollsters that it was ignored in the “others” category.

College football is now college basketball.

Remember Jim Valvano’s goal for his North Carolina State hoopsters during March Madness?

Survive and advance.

From Georgia’s Kirby Smart to Ole Miss’s Lane Kiffin, football coaches repeated their versiion of that mantra during a recent SEC teleconference call and elsewhere around the media.

“In my opinion, the dynasties are over,” Kiffin later told ESPN, joining others in citing how competitive balance now dominates college football through the transfer portal and the pursuit by players for the best NIL (name, image and likeness) deals they can find across the country.

Kiffin added, “Alabama with Coach Saban and then Kirby at Georgia, where they had those rosters year in, year out and there would be a bunch of wins by 30 points in the conference, those days are done.”

Now it’s about teams seeking to stay vibrant and attractive week by week to rank among the 12 finalists for the CFP.

You do the math.

If you go by right now, the Irish would have to spend their last seven games as an independent surpassing at least nine teams from their current No. 21 slot, and it’s likely more teams than that.

Starting later this fall, the CFP will have its own committee do its ranking to decide those 12 teams, and those folks will look at everything, ranging from strength of schedule to how teams lost games as well as won them.

Let’s see how the Irish won this one.

They made more huge plays than Boise State, courtesy of CJ Carr’s arm (two touchdown passes), Jeremiyah Love’s legs (103 yards rushing and a touchdown) and Leonard Moore’s briliance as a defensive back (two interceptions, six solo tackles), but there also were those slew of penalties.

Granted, there were questionable ones, and take it from somebody (OK, me) who has come to Notre Dame Stadium for decades. I was born and raised a couple of punts from Touchdown Jesus, and I’ve attended many Irish games as a professional journalist since the late 1970s.

This was the first time I heard the famously polite Notre Dame crowd boo referees (and loudly with angry faces) heading to the tunnel after a game.

Even so, those refs had nothing to do with the Irish failing on the opening drive to reach the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line despite the best combination of running backs and offensive linemen in the country.

Those refs had nothing to do later in the first quarter with the Irish having an extra-point attempt blocked after a touchdown.

Those refs had nothing to do in the second quarter with the otherwise super Carr watching Will Pauling sprint toward wide-open spaces in the end zone before delivering a pass nowhere within the hemisphere of his receiver.

Speaking of wide-open spaces, those refs had nothing to do with Boise State scoring its only touchdown when everybody went one way near the end of the second quarter and Broncos quarterback Maddux Madsen raced the other way untouched for the easiest one-yard scoring run you’ll ever see.

Which brings us back to more “yeahs” for Notre Dame Saturday, where several things on its stat sheet looked as shiny as the Golden Dome on campus.

Yeah, the Irish outrushed Boise State 200 yards to 100 yards. Yeah, they even had 389 yards overall to Boise State’s 315.

Yeah, Notre Dame also had zero turnovers to Boise State’s four.

Yeah, all of those things negated Boise State finishing with two more penalties than the Irish (for the same amount of yards) and more first downs (23-19) while holding the ball for 11 minutes longer.

It’s just that Notre Dame must operate as closely to perfect as possible the rest of the season. In fact, it’s mandatory for the Irish to do nothing less than what they did last season after their gruesome 16-14 loss at home to Northern Illinois during the second game of the season after an opening victory at Texas A&M.

“It’s no different from last year,” said Notre Dame running back Jadarian Price whose 83 yards rushing and a touchdown complemented Love’s numbers.

“We’ve already been in the playoffs. Last year, it was after Week 2. This week, it’s after Week 3. We’re in the playoffs from here on out. We have to have that mindset. We can’t lose any games.”

Yeah, there’s that for the Irish, but this also is different. With an extra loss already compared to 2024 and with no ranked teams left on their schedule, they can’t have another loss, and they can’t have another Boise State.

Well, not too many more.