Notre Dame football was actually punished by the CFB Playoff committee despite the controversy over their current ranking

A brutal stretch for Notre Dame

While Oregon is a talented team, they have flaws just like every team this season. Traveling out to Eugene wouldn't be easy, and the Ducks would be the betting favorite for obvious reasons. With running back Jeremiyah Love and quarterback CJ Carr leading the Irish, they have the offensive firepower to win out in the end. It would, at least, be a competitive and entertaining football game.

If Notre Dame did beat Oregon, their next challenge would be against the top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. Would the Irish have no chance in that content? Of course not. This is college football, so anything can happen. The odds would obviously, however, be firmly stacked against them. Very few people would be picking Notre Dame to win that game in this hypothetical.

Let’s say that the Fighting Irish did somehow managed to upset the Buckeyes. That would mean they would be one step closer to a championship return, but the last step is another challenging one. Notre Dame would more than likely have to face either Alabama or Georgia to advance to the title game. Oregon, Ohio State, and one of those two programs, is an absolutely brutal playoff stretch.

When you compare that side of the bracket to the other, it isn’t even close in terms of difficulty. The Irish would have quite the daunting task, and you can argue that the No. 9 ranking is the worst possible outcome for any program as of today. That road would be nearly impossible to navigate, or at least improbable.

As mentioned before, this is a conversation that most likely won’t matter in the end. Some teams are going to cannibalize one another, and nobody truly knows how everything is going to shake out. In the modern world of college football where you have to play 16 plus games to win a championship, hoping for the most ideal path is a very important conversation to have.

This story was originally reported by A to Z Sports on Nov 12, 2025, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add A to Z Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.