Why This Is The Most Important Week Of The 2024 Season For Notre Dame Football

Notre Dame’s back is against the wall before the calendar even reaches October

When Notre Dame fell asleep and lost its first home game against Northern Illinois, things changed and it led to a big change.

In a few short hours, Notre Dame went from being a top-five team in the country with one of its best wins of the year early on, to having a shot at hosting a playoff game, to having to win every game the rest of the year to qualify for the CFP.

That’s the life of college football. Every game matters. Results like these are why games are played on the field, not on paper or simply on broad recruiting comparisons.

Notre Dame still had a game to play to be considered in a good CFP position. But that game couldn’t be the NIU game. That’s the problem. Who this loss was to changed the math.

Notre Dame plays urgently on Saturday. Louisville could realistically be the only seed they play at home all year, and with one loss already, the margin of error to make the CFP is slim. I asked Jeff Brohm what he expects from the Irish. To him, it’s simple: … picture.twitter.com/OdhGYe7pzj

— Mason Horodyski (@MasonHorodyski) September 23, 2024

Every game Notre Dame plays is now a playoff game

Due to Notre Dame’s loss in Week 2 and to Northern Illinois, the Irish must win their remaining games to clinch a playoff berth, and even with an 11-1 final record, I don’t believe Notre Dame can clinch a First Round seed at home due to the Northern Illinois loss. They are in for a tough road game against a very talented opponent.

Notre Dame has allowed this extra pressure to be perfect to be placed on itself. The only way out now is to win one game a week.

That’s all there is to it. This week’s test is a Louisville team led by an underappreciated coach, Brohm, who ended Notre Dame’s CFP dreams in impressive fashion last season and who will not be afraid of Notre Dame or Notre Dame Stadium.

Notre Dame got itself into this mess, now it has to win its way out. One week at a time. Pretty or ugly. Just win, baby. If it wins this week?

A welcome farewell and the CFP dreams that still exist await. And if not? The Irish nation will have to face the harsh reality that their CFP dreams have probably been dashed long before Halloween for another year.

It’s really creepy.

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