Notre Dame faces virtual College Football Playoff elimination game vs. USC: Why Irish must win to stay alive

The first CFP rankings are released Nov. 4 and for these two teams, Saturday's game is vital

It's time to reassess Notre Dame's positioning in the College Football Playoff race.

The Irish's outlook was awfully bleak this time a month ago after a 41-40 home loss to Texas A&M nearly pushed Notre Dame out of the top 25, further tanking its lofty preseason ranking of No. 6.

However, like the expanded playoff proved last season, one setback doesn't derail a season -- not even two in Notre Dame's case. Marcus Freeman and the 13th-ranked Irish, winners of four straight, need no extra motivation entering Saturday's game against USC in what could be his team's last opportunity at a win over a nationally-ranked team this season.

The College Football Playoff wasn't mentioned during this week's podium appearance by Freeman, but that's the end goal for a team that has destroyed the competition by an average of 29.5 points per game since starting the season with consecutive losses.

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With the playoff selection committee's first set of rankings coming Tuesday, Nov. 4 and Notre Dame heading into an open date before playing Boston College prior to that reveal, this is a final opportunity of sorts to impress since the early hiccups.

"We understand the challenge," Freeman said of USC. "I think any natural competitor understands, like, when you got a team that's playing as well as USC, they're 5-1, as talented as they are, like, man, it's a great challenge ahead of us. We got to be -- hopefully people that understand every opponent should make us feel that way. 

"But you don't have to tell yourself that when you're playing this opponent. You know the challenge you have, and you don't lack motivation, right? The competitive juices get going, and my message to the team is going to be like, 'Use that competitive juice. As you think about Saturday, use that to continue to remind you to prepare in a way that gives you an opportunity to have success.'"

If the season ended today, Notre Dame would be out of the playoff picture with two losses. But if the Irish keep up their current streak and finish 10-2 overall -- including a victory over the Trojans this weekend -- the selection committee would look at them favorably considering the defeats came to a pair of teams currently ranked inside the top 5 and unbeaten.

Clemson was the only three-loss team in the first year of the 12-team bracket last season, earning an automatic bid as conference champions of the ACC.

Suffice it to say Notre Dame's tilt with 20th-ranked USC is an elimination game of sorts for the Irish, while the Trojans will have two additional opportunities at garnering a second ranked win the rest of the way after this weekend following their victory over Michigan.

USC also goes into a bye week after this one's over before traveling to No. 25 Nebraska. Then, the Trojans get home games against Northwestern and Iowa before a date at eighth-ranked Oregon.