While Notre Dame’s 41-13 victory over Wisconsin on Sunday night was pretty convincing, it doesn’t seem like that was the case for everyone.
With the majority of games having concluded, On3’s Andy Staples released his new projected College Football Playoff bracket, with the Irish dropping to the No. 7 seed
. Back in August, he had Notre Dame as his top overall seed, making it to the championship game before being defeated by Georgia.It’s a huge difference from his initial projection, his top-4 having two new teams, USC and Virginia breaking into the top-12 and a different Group of 5 team replacing Navy with Boise State. If Staples ends up being correct in this prediction, the Irish would take on the Trojans in Los Angeles during the first-round.
That would be one heck of a matchup, as Notre Dame could take out some of its frustrations on its rival.
It’s hard to agree with where Staples places the Irish, as many teams have had slow starts against the Badgers, before the second half explosion. The teams above Notre Dame did look good this weekend, as he completely left out Oregon after struggling against Boise State, same with Ole Miss’ rough outing against Louisville.
NEW: College Football Playoff Bracketology via @AndyStaples🏆
— On3 (@On3) September 7, 2026
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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Expert drops Notre Dame in projected College Football Playoff bracket













