PHILADELPHIA—Notre Dame kept its College Football Playoff hopes alive with a tough victory over the Temple Owls on Saturday night.After leading for most of the night, the Irish fell behind Temple 20-17 with less than five minutes to play, thanks to a 36-yard field goal from the Owls’ Austin Jones. The Irish responded with a six-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 17-yard touchdown pass from DeShone Kizer to Will Fuller to put the Irish back ahead 24-20.Temple got one more chance to pull off the upset, and keep its dream of an undefeated season alive, but P.J. Walker was picked off by KeiVarae Russell in the final minutes, and the Irish were able to run out the clock to hold on for the 24-20 victory.It wasn’t the prettiest win for Notre Dame, as Temple’s defense lived up to its tough, hard-nosed billing for most of the night, but it was a major performance by Kize, who was picked off twice in the red zone on Saturday night, but he overcame both turnovers to put together a strong effort. He passed for 299 yards, and rushed for another 143 yards, finishing with three total touchdowns, one coming on a 79-yard run.The win improved Notre Dame’s record on the season to 7-1, while Temple drops to 7-1. Notre Dame’s playoff hopes are still alive: Here’s something strange to think about. So far this season Notre Dame has picked up wins against Texas, Georgia Tech and USC, but the most impressive win on its playoff resume might be this one over Temple.This was obviously a win that Notre Dame needed if it wanted to keep its playoff hopes alive. Simply put, no matter what happens elsewhere, the odds of a two-loss Irish team being selected for the playoff are between slim and none, so they needed this win.The Irish also have a chance to add another “resume” win this year, as they finish the regular season with a road game against Stanford. This loss probably doesn’t hurt Temple all that much: If we’re being honest with ourselves, even if Temple went 13-0 during the regular season and won the AAC, it’s likely it would have been left out of the playoff, barring total and utter chaos on the Power Five conferences.