Notre Dame’s most impressive rankings this week are its continually climbing status in the national college football defensive statistics.

Following its 45-7 dismissal of Wake Forest, Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium, the Irish moved up to No. 6 in the 130-team FBS in total defense. The last time an Irish team finished No. 6 or better at season’s end was 1980 (fourth), six years before Irish second-year head coach Marcus Freeman was born.

As for the more traditional rankings, Notre Dame (8-3) finds itself on Sunday at No. 17 in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls heading into its Saturday night season finale at Stanford (3-8). The game kicks off at 7 EST on the soon-to-be-defunct Pac-12 Network.

The Irish remain just out of the running in the FWAA-NFF Super 16 poll, technically in 18th place. The next College Football Playoff rankings will be unveiled on Tuesday night.

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Georgia remains the consensus No. 1 team across the three polls. Ohio State jumped Michigan and is the new No. 2 in both the coaches and AP polls, with the Wolverines the new No. 3 ahead of their clash on the field this coming Saturday.

Washington and Florida State also switched places, with the Huskies the new No. 4 team and the Seminoles No. 5 and perhaps without injured starting QB Jordan Travis moving forward.

Notre Dame’s most impressive defensive facet has been its pass-efficiency defense, ranked No. 2, behind only Ohio State. The Irish held Wake Forest to 98 yards passing Saturday, the Demon Deacons’ second-lowest total since a 52-3 loss to Clemson in 2019. Then-Wake QB Sam Hartman was redshirting and didn’t play in that game, which produced 41 passing yards.

ND’s most improved defensive category, of many, is red-zone defense — in a tie for second nationally behind Navy and up for 109th in 2022.

Which, in turn, is a reason why you’ll see defensive coordinator Al Golden’s name come up in speculation for open head coaching positions in college and defensive coordinators spots eventually in the NFL, when the latter’s coaching carousel starts to get in motion. The college game is already there.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel included Golden as a candidate for the recently opened Syracuse head coaching job, with Dino Babers having been fired on Sunday.

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