To keep the College Football Playoff field moving in the direction of a better Irish seed, Notre Dame Football would love to see some upsets elsewhere.
The Notre Dame football team is preparing for a pivotal Week 13 as the 2024 college football season approaches its end, hoping to earn a berth in the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff system. According to the most recent College Football rankings, Notre Dame is presently in charge of their own fate and is ranked eighth.
Even though Notre Dame will advance if they prevail, Irish supporters are known to cheer for mayhem in order to guarantee the Irish a home game in the first round of the playoffs. The Irish should support the teams and games listed below in week 13.
Who Notre Dame football fans should root for in Week 13
The Indiana Hoosiers going 10-0 is the unexpected plot point. The Hoosiers’ finest victory came against a dismal Michigan club that finished 5-5. Their schedule strength is ranked 106th. Now, Indiana will travel to Columbus to play Ohio State, the nation’s number two team, in their toughest and only test of the year. I think Irish supporters should be cheering for Ohio State to win. I say this because I don’t think Ohio State will fall very far if the Hoosiers win, and I would much prefer see the Notre Dame football team play Indiana in the first round than Ohio State.
If Indiana is competitive and, let’s say, covers the 13.5, I think they could be able to stay in the playoffs, depending on the SEC and their chaos. However, if they lose by 17+ or fail the eye test, I can see the committee eliminating them from the playoffs.
Ole Miss is in the midst of the impending SEC upheaval. The Rebels just finished a bye week after defeating the Georgia Bulldogs in a commanding effort the week before. The Florida Gators, who recently formally eliminated Brian Kelly and his LSU Tigers, should have Irish supporters cheering them on. In addition to making it easier for the Irish to get in, a victory by Florida would push Ole Miss out of the running for admission and eliminate another SEC team. The Gators have been playing better lately, but they are presently a +10.5 underdog versus Ole Miss. The start time of this game is 12:00 ET.
No. 15 Texas A&M at Auburn
The Aggies currently control their own destiny in making the SEC championship game. While many fans are jumping ahead and focusing on the last game of season where the No.3 ranked Texas Longhorns will travel to College Station to face Texas A&M, the Aggies have what looks like could be a spoiler game. Texas A&M will travel to Jordan-Hare Stadium and face Auburn and are currently just a 2.5 point favorite. Irish fans want Texas A&M to win out so their opening win at Texas A&M looks better and better. Kickoff will be at 7:30 pm ET.
All Big 12 Upsets
Where most College Football fans are almost positive that the Big 12 will only get one team in, it is always better to be safe than sorry. I think Irish fans should be rooting for No. 21 ranked Arizona State to upset No. 14 BYU and the Kansas Jayhawks to upset No. 16 Colorado Buffaloes. The more chaos in the Big 12, the better for Fighting Irish fans. While I am looking a little too far ahead here, but I would rather play Arizona State or Iowa State in playoffs rather than Colorado. So, a Jayhawk upset would make Colorado no longer control their own destiny, and the Buffs would need both Arizona State and Iowa State to lose at least one game or BYU to lose its last two games to make it to the Big 12 championship game.
Fighting Irish fans should be rooting for all the teams that are or were on their schedule. Louisville beating Pitt would boost the Irish’s win over them and make the Cardinal an 8-win team. Stanford could win out, be a 5-7 squad, with a long shot bowl game. The more Cardinal wins the better for Irish fans. USC at UCLA is a night game and the Trojans are currently .500 with a 5-5 record. Irish fans should root for Trojans to win so they can clinch bowl eligibility and then if Irish were to win the last game over USC the Trojans would sit at 6-6 rather than 5-7 and potentially miss a bowl game. Lastly, Virginia will host SMU at noon.
Although this is a reach, a Cavaliers victory would help Notre Dame football get back on track, give SMU two defeats, and ensure that the ACC will only have one team in the playoffs. Additionally, UVA would earn their sixth victory and be added to the Blue and Gold’s bowl schedule if they prevailed.
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