ND FOOTBALL: Looking good matters for Fighting Irish playoff hopes

SOUTH BEND — In ‘can’t lose’ situations, Marcus Freeman’s teams just seem to find a way.

After Notre Dame dropped its home opener to Northern Illinois last season, the Fighting Irish were up against the wall of playoff elimination early. The response was to rattle off 10-straight regular season wins and three more in the postseason to make an appearance in the national championship game.

Losing its first two games this season, albeit, to two ranked teams by a total of four points, Freeman’s group has now won nine straight and approaches a matching 10th win this Saturday at Stanford (4-7). The Fighting Irish continue to stay true to their name.

“I mean, the biggest thing is right now you’re just focused on this one, right,” Freeman said about the recent backs-against-the-wall success. “And so, I always say is you look back at something, you say, ‘Man, you guys went on a run, or you guys had a great season, or you guys did some really good things.’ But in the moment, you’re just so entrenched on this opportunity right in front of you. And I think that’s what’s important.”

No. 9 Notre Dame (9-2) remained unmoved in the College Football Playoff rankings with a third-consecutive week slotted at No. 9. If the playoff began today, the Irish would be on the road at eighth-seeded Oklahoma in the first round.

Freeman’s team is coming off a historic dismantling of Syracuse this past weekend, crushing the Orange 70-7. Style points? There were a lot of those, and it’s hard to see them not helping.

For this first time this season, the CFP committee judged Notre Dame and Miami (who sports a 27-24 win over the Irish) in the same circle. Miami moved up to No. 12, but would be out of the playoff to allow the top five conference champions a spot. To the committee, the Week 1 Hurricane head-to-head win factors into the equation, but apparently isn’t enough to outweigh the eye test that continues to consider Notre Dame the better team.

Without a conference championship game, this is the final week for the Irish to either prove, or disprove the committee’s love of the Irish. A convincing and controlling win over an offensively-challenged Stanford team that is 124th in points per game (18.9) likely won’t move the Irish up, however, a slugfest with their rival would give CFP members a reason to lose faith in the Irish heading into the Dec. 7 final selection.

“You start thinking about this big picture and what’s happening in an uncertain future, that’s added pressure that you don’t need,” Freeman said, disregarding playoff talk. “You need to focus on — I mean, this is the Super Bowl. And I’ve said that plenty of times, but it is. You learn from the past, you let it go, and you say, ‘OK, we don’t talk about an uncertain future, this game Saturday is the Super Bowl.’”

Notre Dame’s success in the later portion of the season is a combination of talent, and conviction.

Its running back and bonafide Heisman Trophy contender, Jeremiyah Love, is rushing at a pace unmatched by other Football Subdivision (FBS) backs. Love is third in the nation in rushing yards (1,306) and is third in rushing touchdowns (17), but, out of 21 FBS backs to rush for over 1,000 yards this season, Love is the only one to average over seven yards a carry.

“Yeah, I think, you look at Jeremiyah Love and you say, ‘OK, one, every time he gets the ball, there’s a chance that he can go all the way,’” Freeman said. “And I mean, yes, he’s not gonna get the carries that maybe all the other running backs in the country get, but what he does when he does get the carries is — I mean, his yards per carry is tremendous.”

Outside Love is freshman quarterback CJ Carr. After a limiting game plan in the Week 1 loss at Miami, the playbook has opened up as Carr has proved he’s ready for it. He’s sixth in the nation in QB rating (169.8). Stanford, which has the second-worst pass defense in all of FBS (allowing over 284 yards a game), will be facing a true star in the making.

On the other side of the ball is defensive coordinator Chris Ash. Once sitting on a scalding hot chair following three weeks of poor defensive efforts to begin the season, Ash is now leading one of the country’s better units. The Irish are 13th in points per game, allowing just over 17 points a contest.

Freeman points to a group that knew what it was doing was right, but it just needed time to show it properly.

“I think it’s— he has a little philosophy in terms of what we’re playing,” Freeman said. “Yeah, but it’s more so how we’re coaching it; the fundamentals of successful defense. We all believe it wasn’t a call. It was the fundamentals and the execution of what we’re asking our guys to do.

“[Ash] had conviction, I have conviction. The whole defensive staff had conviction. Our players had conviction. Even if the ones that might have wavered, I don’t know who they are, but the leaders had conviction and buy-in to the staff and what we’re being asked to do.”

The only new snag in the defense is the loss of sophomore linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa. Injuring his left knew against Syracuse, Viliamu-Asa is lost for the season. The underclassmen was third in tackles (48) and has three sacks and two turnovers. Expected to step in is freshman Madden Faraimo and sophomore Kahanu Kia.

Notre Dame, which leads Stanford 23-14 all-time, has won five of the last six meetings with the Cardinal. Last year’s 49-7 victory was the second largest margin of win in the series.

As the series shifts to Stanford, California, the Fighting Irish have one opportunity left to punch its ticket back to the playoff. Notre Dame (9-2) faces Stanford (4-7) at 10:30 p.m. ET Saturday night on ESPN.