Can Notre Dame football finish ahead of where it started in the polls?
In a season that persists with a vibe of what might have been, the Notre Dame football team continues to climb toward where it started the season — at No. 13 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25.
Saturday’s 56-23 bullying of Stanford — that is, once the Irish stopped picking on themselves with miscues — nudged Notre Dame (9-3) up one more spot to No. 16 in both the AP and Coaches polls released on Sunday. The Irish are one spot outside the FWAA-NFF Super 16 poll, technically at 17th.
They’ll sit out next weekend’s conference championship slate, then find out their final rankings in those three polls and the College Football Playoff rankings next Sunday, as well as their bowl assignment.
A 10-win season could help the Irish finish higher in the final AP rankings for the third time in four seasons and the fifth in the last seven.
If the Irish do end up facing former coach Brian Kelly and his LSU Tigers on Jan. 1 in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, Fla,, and the nation’s top passer (among other things) in Jayden Daniels, they’ll be able to bring the nation’s No. 1 pass-efficiency defense to the table.
Notre Dame moved up a spot in pass-efficiency D after holding four Stanford QBs to a collective 50% completion rate with no TDs and a pass picked off by Irish linebacker Jack Kiser, Notre Dame’s No. 1-graded defender in the game by Pro Football Focus.
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The Irish ranked 42nd nationally in that category at the end of last season.
The top 13 spots in both the AP and coaches poll mirror each other, with Georgia, Michigan. Washington and Florida State comprising the top four in each. The next CFP rankings come out Tuesday night (7 EST) before the final ones are revealed on Sunday (noon).
AP and Coaches polls
FWAA-NFF Super 16 poll
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