"We have to find ways to come up with points every night."

There you have it. Straight from the coach. Points (as in plural) every night the rest of the way. That is a mighty tall task. With 8 games left against teams we are 2-6 against so far, some might say an unrealistic task.

1st and 2nd place are out of reach for the Irish. Even if we throw down a sweep against either MSU or Wisconsin, I don't see Notre Dame catching either team. 3rd and 4th place are well within sight still, but so is 5th place. I think PSU and OSU are pretty much assured of 6th and 7th, so we won't sink that far. 4th place hosts a playoff series, but that didn't do the Irish any favors last season.

The problem though might also be that even finishing the regular season as high as 3rd will not assure an NCAA bid. The way this league is beating up on itself, simply taking a couple more points than they give up over the final 8 games may be good enough for 3rd, but it likely won't move Notre Dame anywhere near high enough in the pairwise to not have to also do some serious winning in the conference tournament. To be even remotely comfortable as far as making the NCAAs based on the regular season Notre Dame is going to have to have a pretty unlikely finish to the regular season. Sweeping the 4 home games and maybe going 3-1 on the road would probably do it, but what has this team shown so far that makes anyone thing that is going to happen?

I'm thinking Notre Dame will pick up 10 to 12 of the available 24 points and finish in 4th or 5th, depending on whether Michigan or Minnesota has a particularly good finish.

Michigan has two games in hand on us and 4 games total left against OSU and PSU. My guess is if they take more than 3 points against the Irish at Yost they will finish in front of Notre Dame. Like Notre Dame, the Gophs also have 8 games left, and the two against Notre Dame are at the CFIA. They have a tough schedule, with games also against Wisconsin and a series in Mariucci against Michigan. But they are also 2 points in front of Notre Dame, so to put real pressure on them I think 5 points at a minimum is needed when we play them in 2 weeks, if not an outright sweep.

My guess is 4th and 5th place will be decided between Notre Dame and Minnesota on the basis of what happens at the CFIA on February 16-17.

These next eight games are not only going to spell out how this season ends (or doesn't) for Notre Dame, they might also be telling us a lot more about the future of the program.