Notre Dame doesn't have a chance, right? There's a reason those win probability analytics are so dumb. Everyone always has a chance to win. You actually have to play the game instead of paying attention to some arbitrary numbers.

Notre Dame has had an array of injuries in 2024 but that hasn't stopped the Fighting Irish from plowing forward and advancing to Monday night's national championship game against Ohio State. The latest few injuries have involved the offensive line and caused a bit of a fire drill entering the championship round.

But evolution is also a choice. The dinosaurs didn't have to walk into the tar pits. And college football programs -- even old-timers such as Ohio State and Notre Dame -- don't have to walk into the quicksand of mediocrity, led there by the blinders of obligation to keep on keeping on the same way that Knute Rockne and Woody Hayes did.