I think this ND team can play with anyone in the country.
Depending on how the bracket shakes out, we can certainly get into Rd 2 or the Final 4. At that point, we gotta play well, and win the 60 minutes in front of us.
ND is big, physical, can run the ball, plays great D, and takes the ball away at a high clip......there is no team out there that I look at, and think "we can't beat them".
I agree. Depending on how the bracket shakes out we might not see one of those top 5-6 teams until the last round or two. But what value is there in winning a couple of rounds of playoff games only to be a major underdog at some point and predictably get beat ?
I guess i'd rather watch ND win some playoff games than not, but at what point does ND do what it takes to bridge the gap so that they have more of a 50-50 chance instead of a 30-70 chance when they inevitably run into a higher tier team?
And for the record here is how i would 'tier' the playoff level teams through week 12 (using F+):
tier 1: OSU
tier 2: Oregon, Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss
tier 3: Georgia, PSU, Notre Dame
tier 4: Indiana, Miami, Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Clemson
ND is a back end tier 3 team (and would be an underdog vs all the teams listed ahead of them to one degree or another).
