Notre Dame football has already suffered one of the bigger upsets of the college football season. The Fighting Irish were ranked No. 6 when they dropped a 16-14 game to Northern Illinois in Week 2.
The loss came one week after the Irish defeated then-No. 20 Texas A&M at Kyle Field. Since the loss on Sept. 9, Notre Dame has won seven games in a row. The College Football Playoff selection committee has the Irish ranked No. 8 entering their contest with Virginia (5-4) at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday.
Another Top 10 college football upset?
CBS Sports’ Josh Pate put Notre Dame on upset alert for Saturday, thinking the Irish could fall into a trap game before playing a ranked Army team next week.
“We cannot ever exempt Notre Dame from falling in these sorts of spots because we have seen them fall as 20-plus point favorites a couple of times, including this year already at home against Northern Illinois, although I have been dutifully informed by the committee that I’m supposed to forget about that,” Pate said. “They’ll call us a Notre Dame hater show for that comment, by the way. Notre Dame, 50-plus points, back-to-back weeks.”
Can Virginia football do it again?
Pate noted Virginia knocked off then-No. 18 Pittsburgh by a score of 24-19 in Week 11. Pate thinks the Cavaliers are prime to pull off another upset against a Notre Dame team that might not be focused on Saturday.
“Notre Dame, they kind of feel to me nationally like they’re in this spot where everyone is looking towards the Army game,” Pate said. “And then they know Notre Dame’s got to go to Southern Cal at the end of the year, but it’s largely about where they’ll be seeded in the playoff. Will they be ahead of or behind losing teams coming from conference title games and this whole time Virginia is just girding up their loins to go into South Bend, 22.5 point dogs, and I’m looking at it and I’m thinking to myself, Virginia’s been scrappy this year.”
The Notre Dame football team needs to win big
One has to remember, that with five wins, Virginia is trying to secure bowl eligibility. They’ll host No. 14 SMU in Week 13 before finishing their season at Virginia Tech.
Notre Dame can’t afford to take any game lightly. Not only do they need to win games, the Irish have to win convincingly if they want to host a playoff game.
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