Following their 23-13 win over Texas A&M in College Station on the opening Saturday of the season, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were being penciled into the newly expanded College Football Playoff by essentially everyone whose opinion was worth listening to.

Actually, forget the pencil. There were Sharpies all around after Notre Dame won on the road against a tough SEC opponent. But then just one week later, something unexpected happened:

Northern Illinois, who was picked to finish third in the MAC in the preseason coaches poll, came to South Bend and stunned Notre Dame as a 28-point underdog. And while Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman made sure to give the Huskies the proper credit they deserved after the game — he noted specifically that some of Northern Illinois' run schemes gave his defense trouble — he also noted that this loss was partially self-inflicted.

“We have to learn how to handle success,” Freeman said during a Monday press conference, per Pete Sampson of The Athletic. “Everybody says you're going to the playoff, you've got an easy schedule. I think we started to believe that.”

ND slipped from 5th to 18th in the most recent AP Poll, but Fighting Irish fans shouldn't get their own Sharpies out and write this season off just yet. Yes, there are plenty of issues that Marcus Freeman's squad needs to address, but there is still a perfectly clear path to the College Football Playoff.

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Notre Dame's path to the College Football Playoff 

As bleak as things may look for Notre Dame right now, the Irish are still in good position to make a run at a CFP berth… so long as they avoid any shocking losses like this the rest of the way, while picking up a few marquee wins in the process.

As things stand right now, Notre Dame still has two ranked opponents on their schedule in 19th-ranked Louisville and 11th-ranked USC. The Irish also have two opportunities for marquee road wins against a pair of teams in the ACC, Georgia Tech and Florida State. Depending on how the next handful of weeks go for both the Yellow Jackets and the Noles, these could end up being resume boosting wins.

Assuming the Irish do run the slate, a trio of wins against Texas A&M, Louisville and USC would absolutely be enough to land Notre Dame in the field of twelve and give this program their first true shot at a National Title since they played in the BCS Championship Game in 2012.