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Notre Dame’s Opponents: Could a third Playoff contender be emerging on the Irish schedule?

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This space’s preseason predictions unequivocally argued two Notre Dame opponents would make the College Football Playoff in 2022, and increasingly the only worry to that prediction may be that more than two do.

Ohio State, Clemson and USC are all gaining steam. The Trojans still have plenty of Pac-12 worries to overcome, namely at Utah in two weeks and at UCLA in the season’s penultimate game, but they look more and more like a Playoff contender.

The key word there is “contender.” USC remains well below the Buckeyes and Tigers, but it may still jeopardize that preseason prediction. No.

16 BYU (4-1): The Cougars beat Utah State, 38-26, a week ago. But let’s dig a bit deeper and acknowledge that one of the Aggies’ scores came on a possession that lost yardage, and another six points came via a garbage-time touchdown.

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A few weeks ago, Notre Dame fans would have seen little competitive intrigue in the Irish (3-3) hosting UNLV (4-3). While the perennial Mountain West cellar dwellers started off the season unexpectedly strong, their truer selves have shown through the last few weeks. Notre Dame should have little issue against UNLV (2:30 ET; Peacock), but last week’s Irish dud against Stanford underscored how little can be presumed in a season of tumult like this one.
Notre Dame will receive no points for Marcus Freeman’s honesty. His transparency on Monday will not soften the Irish loss on Saturday, falling inexplicably to Stanford, 16-14. Any retrospective credit comes only in the shadow of the first-year head coach initially making the mistake he voluntarily confessed to.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame’s greatest highlight Saturday came long before the Irish (3-3) fell to Stanford, 16-14, in the biggest upset at Notre Dame Stadium since … last month against Marshall.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Sometimes a trip to Las Vegas does not catch up to you until it is over. Notre Dame enjoyed its win in Sin City last week, but that hangover caught up with the Irish on Saturday in a 16-14 loss to Stanford. The win was the Cardinal’s first in its last 12 tries against FBS opponents.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Let’s make one thing clear: At 1-4 and having lost 11 straight games against FBS opponents by an average of more than 18 points per defeat, this is not as bad as the Stanford Cardinal has been. In 2003, Notre Dame beat Stanford 57-7.
At some point, Notre Dame needs to find some peace of mind should junior quarterback Drew Pyne suffer any injury. If Pyne’s helmet gets knocked off, if he sprains an ankle, if he joins the ever-lengthening list of quarterbacks with shoulder injuries across the country, the Irish (3-2) need to know freshman Steve Angeli could step in for a moment, a week, the season.

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