Notre Dame looked like a team capable of reaching the College Football Playoff a week ago when it took down Texas A&M in College Station.

The No. 5 Fighting Irish looked far from a championship-caliber team in a 16-14 upset loss to Northern Illinois on Saturday.

Notre Dame's woes started early. Fighting Irish quarterback Riley Leonard threw his first interception of the game in the first quarter, leading to a Northern Illinois field goal to make it 13-7.

Notre Dame's frustrations boiled over on the final play of the half as its last-second field goal attempt was blocked by the Huskies and nearly returned for a touchdown.

The Fighting Irish finally found some life on offense in the third quarter as running back Jeremiyah Love ran in a touchdown from 34 yards out, but from there Notre Dame went stagnant.

In the fourth quarter, the Fighting Irish had the chance to add some insurance and were mounting a drive, but Leonard threw another interception, haunting Notre Dame's progress. Northern Illinois capitalized on the mistake, driving down the field while ticking time off the clock before draining a field goal and leaving Notre Dame with just 31 seconds to respond.

After working their way down the field in the final seconds, the Fighting Irish's 62-yard game-winning field-goal attempt was blocked, and Northern Illinois completed the biggest upset in program history.

After the loss, fans ripped Leonard's disappointing two-interception performance while the rest of the college football world pronounced the Fighting Irish as CFP pretenders.

Notre Dame's chances of reaching the College Football Playoff took a tremendous hit on Saturday, even when considering the new 12-team format. The Fighting Irish still have three ranked opponents on their schedule in Louisville, Georgia Tech and USC. They might have to win out to make the playoff.

For now, Notre Dame will look to put the embarrassing loss behind it and focus on improving the many areas in which it struggled on Saturday.