You're right. And I hate that. I am so tired of a season that's just good enough to make the CFP or BCS and then getting boatraced. I'd rather just play in a decent bowl and look respectable. But at some point I do think/hope Freeman helps the Irish turn the corner and replicate what hasn't been done since I was 5 in 1988 and win a title.
The rest of the schedule is pretty cake.
Northern Illinois (dammit wtf),
Purdue (somewhat traditional rivalry, but they suck),
Miami.... **ahem** of Ohio (dammit again),
Louisville (ACC draw from our tie-in),
Stanford (tradtional rivalry unfortunately they are the suck for a long time now),
Georgia Tech (ACC),
Navy (my favorite rivalry for the traditions of why we do it, but they aren't great),
FSU (ACC but LOLOLOLOL),
Virginia (ACC)
Army (Meh)
USC (ok finally something respectable)
It's a one-loss schedule: either lose to USC on the road or beat them and end up choking in another game.
Either way, that's the scenario that sucks. We finish 11-1 and are in the bottom half of playoff rankings and get beat in the first or second round, badly.
Lose 2 games and there's no way that resume belongs in the playoffs.