There are still college football regular-season games left to be played that won’t follow the chalk and gray area that the College Football Playoff selection committee continues to perpetuate, but the Notre Dame Football team is finally sitting right where it’d hoped to be in mid-November.
Even if it is just a freeze-frame.
And that is projected to host a first-round game in the first 12-team version of the College Football Playoff.
In the ESPN reveal on Tuesday night, the Irish (9-1) moved up to No. 6 in the rankings and No. 8 in the seedings following their eighth straight win, a 35-14 dismissal last Saturday of ACC middleweight Virginia.
"I think the Irish since that [Northern Illinois] loss have performed very well," CFP selection committee chair Warde Manuel said of ND's lone setback this season in a teleconference on Tuesday night. "[QB] Riley Leonard has come into his own. He's really a dynamic runner. They had a great opening win against Texas A&M.
"Really going into that Navy game, Navy was playing well, and then they really had a dominant performance there. We've been impressed in how Notre Dame has recovered since that loss to NIU at home, and their performance moving forward we'll continue to monitor and take a look at. But they've really come on strong since that loss."
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The difference in the ranking and the playoff seeding is due to two conference champs with automatic byes and top four seeding being ranked this week behind Notre Dame.
Teams seeded 5-8 host first-round games Dec. 20 or 21 against teams 9-12. Teams 1-4, the highest-four ranked conference champs, get a bye into the Dec. 31/Jan. 1 quarterfinals held at bowl sites.
The semis are set for Jan 9-10, also at bowl sites, with the championship game set for Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
The fifth-highest rated conference champ is also guaranteed inclusion in the 12-team field, but does not get a bye or preferred seeding.
Oregon remained No. 1 in the CFP rankings. Ohio State is No. 2, followed by Texas, Penn State Indiana, ND, Alabama, Miami, Ole Miss, Georgia, Tennessee and Boise State to round out the top 12.
BYU is the highest-ranked Big 12 team at the moment at No. 14, and would be seeded fourth, despite not being ranked among the Top 12 teams.
For the moment, Notre Dame’s theoretical first-round opponent is Alabama (8--2).
And that can and likely will change before the final rankings and seedings are released on Dec. 8 at noon, after the conference championship games are played.
How the selection committee processes conference championship game losers figures to be one of the more intriguing pieces to the playoff puzzle.
Do they get a pass for just making the title game? Does the score matter? Or could a loss knock them from the playoff field on a weekend where many teams are sitting at home?
Just three games remain among the CFP contenders in which they face ranked teams before Conference Championship Game weekend. Two of them are this weekend — Notre Dame facing No. 19 Army (9-0) at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on Saturday night (7 EST, NBC/Peacock). Also this weekend No. 2 Ohio State (9-1) hosts No. 5 Indiana (10-0). On Nov. 30, SEC col-leaders Texas A&M (8-2) and Texas (9-1) clash in College Station.
The Aggies are ranked 15th and the Longhorns No. 3.
Among the CFP contenders only Ohio State’s opponents (15-5, .750) have a better winning percentage than Notre Dame’s (14-5, .737).
The next CFP rankings updated is Tuesday, Nov. 26 at 8 p.m. EST on ESPN.
CFP contenders' remaining regular-season opponents
No. 1 Oregon (11-0): vs. Washington (6-5)
No. 2 Ohio State (9-1): vs. Indiana (10-0), vs. Michigan (5-5)
No. 3 Texas (9-1): vs. Kentucky (4-6), at Texas A&M (8-2)
No. 4 Penn State (9-1): at Minnesota (6-4), vs. Maryland (4-6)
No. 5 Indiana (10-0): at Ohio State (9-1), vs. Purdue (1-9)
No. 6 Notre Dame (9-1): neutral site vs. Army (9-0), at USC (5-5)
No. 7 Alabama (8-2): vs. Oklahoma (5-5), vs. Auburn (4-6)
No. 8 Miami (9-1): vs. Wake Forest (4-6), at Syracuse (7-3)
No. 9 Ole Miss (8-2): at Florida (5-5), vs. Mississippi State (2-8)
No. 10 Georgia (8-2): UMass (2-8), vs. Georgia Tech (6-4)
No. 11 Tennessee (8-2): vs. UTEP (2-8), vs. Vanderbilt (6-4)
No. 12 Boise State (9-1): at Wyoming (2-8), vs. Oregon State (4-6)
No. 13 SMU (9-1): at Virginia (5-5), vs. Cal (5-5)
No. 14 BYU (9-1): at Arizona State (8-2), vs. Houston (4-6)
No. 15 Texas A&M (8-2): at Auburn (4-6), vs. Texas (9-1)
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