College football is not just about how many games you win. It’s also about the teams you beat in those games. If the schedule shakes out so you play 11 or 12 duds, then your résumé may not sufficiently impress the committee that decides the composition of the four-team College Football Playoff.

Some of the biggest action last weekend for college football’s top contenders happened away from their own games, where, even in September, a few upsets and near-upsets narrowed paths to the postseason.

The team that may have the most to lose now is No. 8 Notre Dame (4-0). The Fighting Irish play Saturday at home against No. 7 Stanford (4-0), a game that has suddenly attained tremendous importance as Notre Dame strives for its first postseason berth since Alabama humiliated it in the national title game after the 2012 season.

And Stanford, which late Saturday night escaped from Eugene, Ore., with a 38-31 overtime win over No. 19 Oregon (3-1), faces something very much like a do-or-die game in South Bend, Ind. It is a game that will leave no margin for error the rest of the way for whichever team loses.