I understand there is lots of football to be played. But ND will likely not have a quality win (beat a team in the top 10 or even top 15) to offset two quality losses.
The selection rules are different this year than last and you know that means "over-correcting" for last year. The emphasis this year will be on SOS as well as quality wins since many teams will have quality losses. Unless both Miami and A&M win their conferences, we are pretty much cooked since we have almost no possibilities for a quality win(and we might need 2) About the only possible quality win left is vs USC and USC would have to run the table on the rest of their schedule, which based on what I've seen of them, isn't likely. And we'll know more about that nest week.
It is what it is. I'm not being pessimistic, just realistic. We all knew a transition year was in store with a new qb lacking in any experience, a new coordinator, lots of talent but little experience and a major loss in leadership, especially on defense.