Being a football independent, the only way Notre Dame can make the College Football Playoff every year is to impress the CFP selection committee. There is no automatic bid to earn as a conference champion.

So the Fighting Irish need to go out on the field and prove it every week. They did just that on Saturday, destroying Syracuse 70-7 in one or the craziest blowouts every. Before the Irish offense every took the field, Notre Dame had a 21-0 thanks to two interception returns for a touchdown and a punt return for a score.

Notre Dame also scored 35 points in the first quarter, setting a school record. Notre Dame is now 9-2 on the season, winning nine in a row after early-season losses to Miami and Texas A&M. 

Here's the full game story from Irish Breakdown writer Sean Stiles.

Notre Dame Crushes Syracuse Orange On Senior Day Notre Dame won a lopsided Senior Day game over visiting Syracuse to give the Irish their ninth consecutive win

Notre Dame was seeded No. 9 in last Tuesday's CFP rankings, putting them squarely into the field — at least for now. But there needs to be a spot for the ACC champion, and it's still possible that the Big 12 could get two teams in. Some of these at-large spots might go away ahead of the Fighting Irish.

There are no guarantees for Notre Dame, at least not yet. And there are plenty of people who want to throw shade on the Fighting Irish's accomplishments in 2025 because — to be completely honest — their resume isn't all that great.

The sniping starts with the Miami fans, of course, because they are very upset that both teams are 9-2 and the Hurricanes are ranked BELOW Notre Dame at No. 13. Their argument — and it's a good one — is that Miami won the head-to-head matchup. That should matter, and matter a lot, because if it doesn't mean something, then why play the game in the first place?

Miami fans are forgetting, of course, that they got beat by three-loss SMU and four-loss Louisville, defintely smears on their own resume. The selection committee is weighing bad losses quite a bit, even over the head-to-head at the moment.

But there's another argument against Notre Dame getting a bid, and that's coming from people all across the country. Sure, Notre Dame has won nine games in a row, but who have they beaten? There are a lot of people that will argue the Irish have played the easiest schedule in the country.

Frankly, they wouldn't be wrong.

Here's their complete schedule:

Aug. 31 — Notre Dame lost at No. 10 Miami, 27-24.
Sept. 13 — Notre Dame lost at home to No. 16 Texas A&M, 41-40. 
Sept. 20 — Notre Dame beat Purdue at home, 56-20
Sept. 27 — Notre Dame won at Arkansas, 56-13

Oct. 4 — Notre Dame beat Boise State at home, 28-7.
Oct. 11 — Notre Dame beat NC State at home 36-7.
Oct. 18 — Notre Dame beat No. 20 USC at home, 34-2

Nov. 1 — Notre Dame won at Boston College, 25-10.
Nov. 8 — Notre Dame beat Navy at home, 49-10.
Nov. 15 — Notre Dame won at No. 22 Pittsburgh, 37-15.
Nov. 22 — Notre Dame beat Syracuse at home, 70-7.
Nov. 29 — Notre Dame at Stanford, 10:30 p.m. ET.

There is not a lot to be impressed with there. Consider things numbers-related points.

• Purdue is the worst team in the Big Ten. The Boilermakers have lost nine straight games and are 0-8 in the conference. Their only two wins are over Ball State and FCS Illinois State. They are horrible.
• Arkansas is the worst team in the SEC. The Razorbacks have lost nine straight games are are 0-7 in the conference. Their only two wins are over FCS teams Alabama A&M and Arkansas State.
• Boston College and Syracuse are the two worst teams in the ACC. The Eagles have lost 10 straight games are 0-7 in the conference. Their only win is over FCS Fordham. The Orange have lost seven straight games and are just 1-6 in the league.

Even some of their higher-profile wins have come with something of an asterisk lately. USC was a good win because that's a great, historic rivalry, but USC has three losses now. And Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi flat-out said that the Notre Dame game wasn't nearly as important as an ACC game.

So yes, the committee might notice that Notre Dame won 70-7, but it will also be reminded about how trash their schedule is. That might really come back to haunt the Irish.

If schedule strength means anything to the selection committee, Notre Dame might be in big trouble. They really played only two good teams — Miami and Texas A&M — and they lost to both of them. Sure, they were close, but that's not enough.

There are no such things as moral victories. And there should also be no such thing as a gifted playoff spot. 

Related college football stories

HOW TOP 25 FARED: Here are the results for all College Football Playoff top-25 teams this weekend, with scored and how they did against the spread. We've also got what's next up for all of them in Week 14, the final weekend of the regular season. CLICK HERE