Notre Dame’s playoff hopes remain intact. The Fighting Irish were the preseason favorites, but the 0-2 start took them out of the equation. Both losses were so close and became a burden on the 2024 season runner-ups. After a major setback, Marcus Freeman’s side rallied with five straight wins. Their latest win came against their longtime rivals, the USC Trojans, where the Irish pulled out a 34-24 win, reinstating themselves into the playoff race. Despite a big win, CFB Hall of Famer David Pollack noted a similar concern that derailed Marcus Freeman’s Fighting Irish from staying undefeated.

On the October 18th episode of See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack, the CFB legend highlighted Notre Dame’s mistake that Marcus Freeman failed to fix. He believes that if Freeman had fixed this concern, the Fighting Irish would have finished the season 12-0. Pollack pointed to the third quarter with 4:17 left, with the score 21-24, where Jadarian Price returned the kickoff with a 100-yard touchdown (27-24) but failed to earn an extra point.

“USC had all the momentum. Everything was going good. The stadium was kind of quiet, and then he takes it back 100 yards, and they missed the extra point again,” Pollack said. “That’s what cost them the Texas A&M game.” He claims, “They could be undefeated if they could make kicks or hold it correctly.”

In the game against Texas A&M, the Fighting Irish were 40-34 with 2:55 left in the game when Jeremiyah Love rushed for a 12-yard touchdown. However, the extra point attempt went horribly wrong. A botched snap kept Notre Dame just six points ahead. That entire sequence of two minutes and an extra point could have been a game-changer, either with a win or overtime. However, Texas A&M scored a touchdown and scored an extra point in less than 15 seconds to defeat Notre Dame by 41-40.

As Pollack said, the extra points would keep the Fighting Irish undefeated this season. The only time Notre Dame finished the season undefeated with a 12-0 record was back in 1988 under Lou Holtz, winning the national championship, defeating the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Fiesta Bowl by 34-21. Notre Dame is now 5-2, and this 10-point win keeps them alive in their playoff race, and the upcoming schedule hints at a good sign.

Marcus Freeman’s road to 2025 CFB playoffs

Marcus Freeman’s Notre Dame is “very much right back” in the playoff contention. Although it does not change anything, their schedule “ahead looking forward is exceptionally good.” Pollack said that all they wanted to do was to win every single game left in the schedule, to get back to where they left off last season.

The Fighting Irish can breathe free, as the rest of their schedule doesn’t feature a single ranked opponent. Notre Dame will go on a bye in week 9, having enough time to fix extra-point conversions. Coming out of the bye week, they will face Boston College, which has a 1-6 record and is stuck in a 6-game losing streak.

In the rest of the season, the Irish will face Navy on November 9, Pittsburgh on November 15, Syracuse on November 23, and Stanford on November 29 to end their regular season. Although it seems like a cakewalk, Pittsburgh and Stanford could be tough opponents. Since the Irish had to win every game on the road, they needed to outplay their opponents cleanly.