The Notre Dame football team heads to Raleigh, N.C., for a Saturday noon EDT clash with NC State with a little bigger target on its back.
The Irish (2-0), as of Tuesday, are a top 10 team — well, according to two of the three major polls, anyway. Ranked No. 13 by the Associated Press, AFCA Coaches and NFF-FWAA Super 16 preseason polls, Notre Dame moved up three spots, to No. 10, in all but the coaches poll. They’re 11th in those rankings.
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The Wolfpack (1-0), 24-14 winners on the road over UConn in their Thursday night opener, are unranked but received votes in both the AP and coaches polls.
Saturday will mark ND’s second ever trip to Carter-Finley Stadium, and the first presumably to not be played in the outer bands of a hurricane. In 2016, Hurricane Matthew dumped eight inches of rain on Raleigh, and the Wolfpack won 10-3 in the puddle-fest, with the game’s only touchdown scored on a blocked punt.
The Irish routed the Wolfpack in South Bend the following season, 35-14, and have won 28 straight regular-season games against ACC competition. The first of those 28 victories was a 56-27 road win at Wake Forest in 2018, in which the opposing starting quarterback was a freshman named Sam Hartman.
Who’s now Notre Dame’s starter.
Four Notre Dame opponents are in the top polls that go 25 teams deep. Ohio State dropped from No. 3 to No. 5 after its 23-3 win over Indiana. USC (2-0) stayed at No. 6 after routing Nevada, 66-14. The other two future ND opponents played each other on Monday night.
Duke’s 28-7 upset of Clemson vaulted the Blue Devils (1-0) into the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2018. Duke landed at No. 21. Clemson (0-1) tumbled 16 spots to No. 25. In the coaches poll, the Tigers remain ahead of Duke, ranked No. 21 with the team that beat them by three touchdowns slotted 24th.
The release of the polls was delayed until Tuesday because of the extended schedule of Labor Day weekend games. The polls will settle into their normal Sunday release this weekend.
Super 16 poll
AP and Coaches polls
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