What game can’t Notre Dame lose whatsoever in 2022?

Notre Dame enters this season as a top-five team and despite having games at No. 2 Ohio State and against No. 4 Clemson, certainly seems like a team that will contend for a College Football Playoff spot.

But for a minute let’s assume the Irish go 10-2 and end up playing in the Orange Bowl.  Is that acceptable for Marcus Freeman in his first season?  We discussed that a bit a week or so ago and it came up again when I sat down with the Always Irish podcast.

We went with the assumption Notre Dame would go 10-2 and then discussed why there was one opponent of the essentially big three (Ohio State, Clemson, and USC) that the Irish absolutely could not afford to lose to.

Here’s a hint.

It’s USC and it’s not close.

Enjoy watching us discuss why and make sure to subscribe and hit like if you enjoy the content.

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Story originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire