Well Sir..... if we look at Team Season Stats to date here is where they fall...
Scoring Offense: 52nd (32.8 ppg)
Total Offense: 48th (442.4 ypg)
Scoring Defense: 27th (18.8 ppg)
Total Defense: 36th (340.6 ypg)
So they are 'above average' on offense (though that is misleading because they have been MUCH BETTER with Ian Book at QB who is 7th Nationally in Passer Rating)
But they are 'kind of good' on defense....hovering around the Top 30.
Then you look at their schedule and the 2 big wins are Michigan and Stanford.
Well how good is Michigan really? They haven't played a decent team since the opening loss to ND.
Stanford looks good on paper but that's only if you ignore Oregon literally snatching defeat from the jaws of victory by fumbling the ball while trying to run the clock out instead of taking a knee. Stanford should be 3-2 right now.
My Opinion is they are probably a Top 15.....maybe Top 10 team with the new QB.
But they play NOBODY the rest of the year. They will be 14+ point favorites the rest of the way. They would have to throw up all over themselves against someone to lose a game.
So the thing is they will probably finish 12-0.... and they are 'Notre Dame'.....so they will be taking a playoff spot away from some more deserving Conference Champion.
Then they will get HAMMERED in the Semi-Final Round against someone from the group of Alabama or UGA, Ohio State, Oklahoma or WVU, Clemson or Miami, Oregon or Washington.
Well they might could beat Miami or Washington.... but the rest of those teams would SKULLDRAG them.