It's the first week of November. Notre Dame still has four regular season games left to play. Subsequently, head coach Brian Kelly isn’t too concerned about where the Fighting Irish landed in the first set of College Football Playoff rankings.
But he at least offered a short opinion on Notre Dame’s position at No. 10.
“I think I was a little surprised, quite frankly, that we were as low as we were and that Cincinnati was as low,” Kelly said, “but nothing that I lost any sleep over because it’s the first week.”
The lone blemish on the Irish's 7-1 record, of course, was a 24-13 home loss to Cincinnati on Oct. 2. The unbeaten Bearcats (8-0) have been ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press Poll for three straight weeks but checked in at No. 6 behind three one-loss teams (Alabama, Oregon and Ohio State) in the first CFP rankings.
Both Notre Dame and Cincinnati thus have an uphill climb to reach the playoff. Yes, it's early. But both teams are on the outside looking in, and there isn't room in the top four for both. As it stands, there's not room for either of them. That has much to do with the respective schedules they've played and results against inferior foes.
Cincinnati beat a Navy team that at the time only had one win by a touchdown. Notre Dame needed overtime to beat Florida State, a last-minute drive to beat Toledo and 11 unanswered points in the final four minutes to beat Virginia Tech.
Cincinnati and Notre Dame only have one win apiece of teams currently ranked in the CFP rankings. Cincinnati's came over Notre Dame. Notre Dame's came over three-loss Wisconsin (No. 21). Neither team has an opponent ranked in the CFP rankings left on its regular season slate.
Then there's the dynamic between the two teams themselves. If Cincinnati loses at some point, does a one-loss Irish team slip by a one-loss Bearcats team in the rankings even though the latter beat the former in a hostile environment? How much would Notre Dame be restricted from upward movement for losing at home to a group of five team that couldn't run its own table?
Kelly said he isn't concerned about any of that just yet. The Irish are focused on beating Navy (2-6) this weekend in the last game of a stretch of three in a row at Notre Dame Stadium. Then it's on to Virginia (6-3) on Nov. 13, back home against Georgia Tech (3-5) on Nov. 20 and on the road at Stanford (3-5) on Nov. 27.
“There is so much more movement that is going to occur,” Kelly said.
During his Zoom press conference on Thursday, Kelly thought back to 2012 when his Irish were ranked No. 5 in the BCS standings at the halfway point of the season. He recalled having “virtually no path” to the national title game with unbeaten Power Five programs Florida, Oregon and Kansas State standing in the way.
Five weeks later, the Irish were 11-0 and ranked No. 1 in the country. A lot can happen in the next five weeks, too, but again — Kelly and company can only do one thing to help the cause: win. That's why he didn’t discuss the rankings with his team this week and likely won't for the rest of the regular season.
Everyone knows where the Irish stand now. But all that matters is where they stand a month from now. If that's in the top four, then it'll be the third time in the last four years Notre Dame has made the College Football Playoff. If it’s just outside, then it wouldn’t have been for a lack of trying.
“A lot of these guys have been through it before and know it’s the first ranking and there is a lot of football left,” Kelly said.
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