The No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish pummelled the Syracuse Orange 70-7 in Week 13 of college football action to improve to 9-2 for the season. After starting the season 0-2, coach Marcus Freeman’s team has consistently been one of the best in the country, having put together a nine-win streak.
Stanford’s HC Lavishes Praise on Notre Dame
Due to their two losses and resume this season, debate has raged among both fans and analysts about whether Freeman’s team deserves to clinch a place in the 12-team College Football Playoff.
Before the Fighting Irish’s season-ending clash against the Stanford Cardinal on the road, coach Frank Reich lavished praise on the dominant Notre Dame while hailing them as the best team they’ve played this season, despite playing against the No. 13 Miami Hurricanes a few weeks ago.
“It’s a challenge. It’s exciting,” Reich said. “This is a good football team. Like, when I put the tape on yesterday. I mean, this, to me, looks like the best team we’ve played all year. In the film I’ve watched, they’re really well-coached. You can just see it. It jumps off the tape.
“They’re very well-coached. They’re high-level. There’s really no weakness. For me, mostly looking at their defense right now. I’ll get to the offense a little bit later today. But looking at them defensively, really good across the board.”
Stanford coach Frank Reich says Notre Dame has “no weakness.” He was in awe when he turned on the tape, calling the Irish “a real deal.”
“This, to me, looks like the best team we’ve played all year.”
Yes, the Cardinal also played Miami. So there’s that.https://t.co/8t0qCX1bBg pic.twitter.com/oG41fgDO8C
— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) November 25, 2025
The Cardinals have a 4-7 record this season after beating the California Golden Bears 31-10 in Week 13 action.
Still, they will face a dangerous adversary when Freeman’s team rolls into town after blowing out Syracuse last weekend.
Analyst Breaks Down Fighting Irish CFP Miss Scenario
During Monday’s segment of the “Always College Football” show, analyst Greg McElroy broke down the scenarios that would potentially see the Fighting Irish bumped out of the College Football Playoff field.
“The committee last year gave us some precedent with how things kind of shook up when it came to Conference Championship Saturday,” McElroy said, while adding, “SMU was in a very similar situation to Texas Tech. They lost the conference title game and didn’t fall out of the field.
“The team that won, Clemson, went in. So now there are two Big 12 teams in BYU and Texas Tech, which could force Notre Dame potentially out of the field.”
The current state of college football in several conferences is chaotic enough, let alone the ACC, which has made this season’s race to clinch one of the 12 playoff spots one of the most exciting in recent memory.
The Fighting Irish have several wins against top teams, but only the No. 19 USC Trojans and the No. 24 Pittsburgh Panthers remain ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll, which might affect their chances of clinching a College Football Playoff spot.
