Notre Dame vs Boise State Prediction: Playoff Elimination Game

It seems like it was so long ago, but yeah, Boise State and Notre Dame were both in the College Football Playoff last year.Boise State’s ugly 34-7 blowout loss to USF to start the season kicked things off with a thud, and Notre Dame lost its first two games to make things triple-hard on itself. But both teams are still knee-deep in the mix for the College Football Playoff again. After Saturday, though, one of them won’t be.There are too many Group of Five options available – the American Conference winner probably gets the call. However, if Boise State beats Notre Dame at Notre Dame, the USF loss isn’t erased, but it’s blurry.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs Boise State Broncos Preview

Notre Dame has to win out. And yes, America – and way too many people who do what I do who should know better – an Irish team with two razor-thin losses to two great teams, followed up by a ten-win run, gets it in.But again, this is just one step along the way. Neither team can lose the rest of the regular season.

How To Watch Notre Dame vs Boise State

Saturday, October 4, 2025 Game Time: 3:30 PM ETTV: NBCLocation: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, IN @PeteFiutak

Why Boise State Will Win

The Broncos had a clunker of an opening, but it’s been fantastic in the three games since. No, they haven’t played anyone as good as USF – and certainly not anyone as strong as Notre Dame – but they’ve been fantastic.

The passing game is averaging close to 300 yards per game, the Ashton Jeanty-less ground attack is going off, averaging close to six yards per game, and Notre Dame’s defensive front can’t stop much of it.This isn’t the Irish D of last year. It’s having a hard time stopping the run, a harder time stopping anyone from throwing for big yards, and Boise State quarterback Maddux Madsen should be able to open things up and keep up the pace, because …

Why Notre Dame Will Win

This isn’t the Irish O of last year.The rushing combination of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price is the best in the nation – those two would start in the NFL right now – and there’s already murmuring that Notre Dame might have a future No. 1 overall draft pick in quarterback CJ Carr.

Everything is clicking. The downfield passing game is eating up defenses, the ground attack is ripping off yards in chunks, and no one’s stopping this bunch now. The Boise State defense stepped up in the blowout win over App State last week, but it didn’t do anything to stop Air Force, and USF rumbled at will. And …

Notre Dame doesn’t screw up enough to biff this

Historically, Notre Dame loses when it doesn’t run at least 30 times. So there’s a chance that the coaching staff forgets to keep giving the ball to the amazing backs – it happened against Miami this year, and Northern Illinois last year…

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