A Big Deal? Notre Dame Reaches No. 3 For Third Time In Four Seasons
This past weekend, then No. 4 Notre Dame narrowly defeated a now 1-4 Louisville team 12-7, which disappointed many Fighting Irish fans. According to some members of the media, boos came from the Notre Dame Stadium stands as quarterback Ian Book took a knee to run out the clock.
Fans wondered, “How could a program that's ranked so highly only put up just 12 points on such a bad defense?”
"Winning is hard," said Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly in his postgame press conference. "I'm proud of our football team."
Later that evening, No. 2 Alabama defeated No. 3 Georgia 41-24.
All of a sudden Notre Dame, a team whose play was so poor its own fan base was disappointed, was able to move up one spot to No. 3 in the AP Poll the next day.
While such an honor may feel underserved by some, it's still quite a feat by the Fighting Irish — one very few programs are able to achieve on a semi-regular basis.
In fact, this is the third time in the last four years that Notre Dame has reached No. 3 in the AP Poll. This feels even more significant given the fact that the team never began any of those seasons ranked higher than No. 9.
During that span of time, only 12 teams have reached No. 3 or higher in the AP Poll, with just six programs accomplishing this feat in multiple seasons: Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Oklahoma.
| School | Number of Seasons In Top Three | AP High |
|---|---|---|
|
Alabama |
4 |
No. 1 |
|
Clemson |
4 |
No. 1 |
|
Florida |
1 |
No. 3 |
|
Florida State |
1 |
No. 3 |
|
Georgia |
4 |
No. 2 |
|
LSU |
1 |
No. 1 |
|
Miami |
1 |
No. 2 |
|
Notre Dame |
3 |
No. 3 |
|
Ohio State |
4 |
No. 2 |
|
Oklahoma |
2 |
No. 2 |
|
Penn State |
1 |
No. 2 |
|
Wisconsin |
1 |
No. 3 |
This group of teams also represents six out of the seven programs to make it to the College Football Playoffs since 2017. The other is Washington, which was the fourth seed in 2017 and the last Pac-12 team to appear in the CFP. No Pac-12 team has been ranked higher than No. 4 in the AP Poll in the last four seasons.
It's also worth noting that only three teams have reached No. 1 in the last four years: Alabama, Clemson and LSU. The trio also comprises the only three programs to win national championships during that time span.
Two 2020 Notre Dame opponents were ranked No. 3 or higher in the last four seasons: Clemson and Florida State, with the Seminoles achieving this feat thanks to the 2017 preseason AP Poll. But Florida State lost the season opener to Alabama 24-7 and finished the season just 7-6.
Fellow ACC member Miami reached No. 2 in the 2017 AP Poll after defeating Notre Dame 41-8 on Nov. 11, only to lose to an unranked Pittsburgh team 24-14 two weeks later.
All this is to say that it's hard to be ranked in the top three in the country and, in recent years, only four programs have accomplished it more frequently than the Fighting Irish.
Notre Dame still has a lot left to prove this season but, even if a No. 3 ranking in the AP Poll feels underserved, that doesn't mean it isn't a worthy accomplishment that should be celebrated at least a little bit.
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