Notre Dame remains very much alive for playoff spot

Timing is everything.

Texas, Penn State and Notre Dame were all ranked among the nation’s top 6 teams coming into the 2025 college football season … and considered College Football Playoff givens. All enter Week 7 with disappointing 3-2 records.

Only one, however, remains ranked … and considered a CFP contender.

How? Why? Easy, timing.

Notre Dame, which began the season ranked No. 6, currently finds itself on a three-game win streak and climbing in the polls largely behind the offensive exploits of freshman QB C.J. Carr (766 passing yards, 8 TDs and O INTs in that stretch) and the RB tandem of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price (combined 560 yards rushing and 14 total TDs in the wins).

Texas and Penn State, meanwhile, dropped out of the top 25 entirely after each endured their second loss of the season last Saturday.

After “could’ve gone either way” losses at then-No. 10 Miami and vs. then-No. 16 Texas A&M to open the season, the Irish never dropped out. They fell to No. 24, but now are back to No. 16 and rising thanks to blowout wins against Purdue, Arkansas and Boise State.

Texas and Penn State started the season ranked Nos. 1 and 2, but the Longhorns lost their opener at now-No. 1 Ohio State and the Nittany Lions suffered their first loss two weeks ago against then-No. 6 Oregon, setting up their almost surprising exits from the polls after losses at unranked Florida (Texas) and UCLA (Penn State).

Clearly, grace was in less supply for them by the time they hit that second L than what it had been for ND, and now, with Texas still to face four ranked teams and Penn State two, including Ohio State, they’re chances at making a run for the playoff seems over.

Not preseason No. 4 Clemson, now 2-3, over. But over.

ND, conversely, is alive and well on that front. If anything, the prevailing sentiment after the Irish started 0-2 was that they were capable of running the table to finish 10-2. That feeling remains. Largely because rest of their schedule is considered, well, a little soft.

It may not be, though.

N.C. State, which visits South Bend this Saturday, is dangerous, and next week Southern Cal, if it beats No. 15 Michigan this week, likely will be ranked.

Frankly, a month after that matchup, Navy likely will be, too, when it visits the Irish. The Midshipmen figure to be 8-0 at that point and themselves a contender for a playoff berth.

That, to me, could be the real litmus test for ND. Senior QB Blake Horvath is a major dual threat and showed it just this past weekend, throwing for a career-high 339 yards and 3 TDs and rushing for 130 yards and another TD as the Middies held off Air Force.

His main target on the day, though, may be the ultimate difference-maker … if/when his talents are utilized. Senior WR Eli Heidenreich has a lot of Christian McCaffrey to his game. He just hasn’t been used like C-Mac all that much in games.

But he went off on the Falcons, setting a Navy record for receiving yards in a game, making eight catches for 243 yards, including three TDs of 19, 60 and 80 yards. He’s the first Middie to surpasses 200 receiving yards in a game, doing so a year after becoming the first Middle to record 100 receiving yards and 100 rushing yards in a game.

Frankly, timing might be on Navy’s side by then. Should the Middies lose to ND, both they and the Irish may remain in the running for a playoff berth, since Navy would have contests against ranked teams South Florida and Memphis still on its schedule, allowing it to make a statement before it’s too late.

GAME OF WEEK 6

Slim pickings, really. Baylor rallied twice in the fourth quarter to beat Kansas State by one and Navy avoided an upset at the hands of Air Force by hitting a game-winning FG to snap a tie with four minutes to go. But the most meaningful of the close ones this week was No. 24 “upsetting” Louisville, 30-27 in OT.

The Cavaliers were a 6.5-point underdog coming in, but used a pair of defensive touchdowns – a 61-yard fumble return by DB Donavon Platt, a transfer from Army, to kick off the scoring in the first quarter and a third-quarter 47-yard interception by LB Kam Robinson – to offset a pretty abysmal offensive performance.

Those turnovers, the only ones in the game, allowed Virginia to hang tight with the then-undefeated Cardinals, forcing the extra. In that, the Cavs held the Cards to a FG and then emerged victorious when J’Mari Taylor ran it into the end zone from two yards.

Not for nothing, but the Wahoos are an interception in the end zone at N.C. State away from being 6-0 at this point.

UNI WATCH

A solid week for the “suits” out there, but it’s becoming clearer with each passing week that Illinois is securing a spot in the top five of get-ups for all opportunities – home, away, alternative – and that California has probably locked up THE top spot for home unis. That gold-blue-gold with the scripted “Cal” on the helmet is just, wow. Stunningly crisp and clean, with no wasted detail.

The Fighting Illini went with their current road combo of orange-white-orange at Purdue with the block “I” on the helmet. Again, crisp and clean, and the colors just pop.

The Boilermakers made it a super sharp Saturday in West Lafayette, opting for their classic gold-black-gold at home. Other sweep matchups were Boston College (gold-white-burgundy) at Pittsburgh (gold-blue-gold) and Texas Tech (black-white-black) at Houston (Cougars went with their Ode to the Oilers’ white-light blue-white).

By far the coolest attire, though, was worn by Oklahoma as the Sooners took it back to the Bud Wilkinson days, going with white-crimson-white with just a single crimson stripe on the helmet, and no interlocking “OU” logo. Wow.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Did Cincinnati’s retina-burning red-black-red unis affect then-No. 14 Iowa State so much that the Bearcats were able to upset the presumably blinded Cyclones, 38-30?

How does Delaware always manage to do “Michigan” with its attire, winged helmet included, better than Michigan?

If Pitt freshman QB Mason Heintschel was 30-for-41, 323-yard, 4-TD good in his debut start, a 48-7 whitewashing of BC, how good can he, and the Panthers, be over the long haul?

Does blowing a 20-0 lead at home to Washington ruin Maryland’s 4-0 start heading into the game and send it in a tailspin with three games against ranked teams still on the slate?

Have people figured out that the ACC is doing just fine after Clemson has hit the skids, thanks to No. 2 Miami, No. 13. Georgia Tech, and No. 19 Virginia repping it well?

HEISMAN HYPE

Navy owned it this week with Horvath and Heidenreich going off. No one, or no tandem, came close to their numbers.

But the closest was the QB-WR tandem at Illinois as Luke Altmyer set a career high with 390 passing yards while completing 19 of 22 attempts and fellow senior Hank Beatty posted a career-best 186 receiving yards, highlighted by a 62-yard TD.

Connecticut QB Joe Fagnano was brilliant, going 22 of 28 for 355 yards and 4 TDs in walloping Florida International.

Alabama QB Ty Simpson rebounded nicely from tossing his first pick of the season in directing the Tide to a comeback win over Vanderbilt, throwing for 340 yards and 2 TDs.

Texas A&M senior Cashius Howell single-handedly wrecked upset-minded Mississippi State’s offense as the undersized DE racked up 3 sacks.