Could Notre Dame be the CFP Spoiler This Season?

With the third year of the College Football Playoff looming, the predictions will come of which teams will make up the last four standing in college football.

If we've learned one thing in the first two years, it's the thought of more than one team from a conference isn't really likely to happen.

It also means of the Power Five conferences, someone's champion is going to be left out. The Big 12 champion was the odd team out in year one.  Last year, it was the Pac-12.  So which one gets left out in 2016?

Well, what if it's more than one?  Because everyone forgets about Notre Dame.

Heather Dinich of espn.com makes several interesting points in a recent article.

And, this year, that could be a mistake.

The Irish were in the mix for one of those slots a year ago,until stumbling against Stanford late in the season.  With the Irish's scheduling agreement with the ACC, their strength of schedule just might meet the eye test.

They aren't in a conference, so they don't play lesser teams in the bigger conferences.  They also don't play any FCS schools, which has become commonplace among P5 schools nowadays.  (It should be noted Notre Dame has never played an FCS school.)

Their schedule has Texas, Michigan State, Stanford, Duke, Miami, Virginia Tech and USC.  They play three games against non P5 teams (Nevada, Army and Navy.)

Now, like everyone else, they'll need to win.  And, they may need to win them all.  But if they do, or if they and every other contender finishes with one loss, they'll be in the mix; perhaps more so than a couple of other one loss teams.

And, a couple will be all they'll need to top.