The College Football Playoff rankings still matter for Notre Dame this season even though the Irish will not be finishing among the top four.
Notre Dame will likely need to be ranked among the top 10 in the final ranking on Dec. 3 in order to receive a bid to one of the New Year’s Six bowls. That’s because the CFP selection committee also picks the at-large selections for those bowls. Notre Dame’s most likely destination, if included in the top 10, would be the Peach Bowl in Atlanta on Dec. 30.
In the first of six weekly rankings releases, the CFP committee slated Notre Dame (7-2) at No. 15 on Tuesday. Three Notre Dame opponents also made the top 25: No. 1 Ohio State (8-0), No. 13 Louisville (7-1) and No. 20 USC (7-2).
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The Irish lost to Ohio State, 17-14, and Louisville, 33-20, but they beat USC, 48-20. It’s in Notre Dame’s best interest for those teams to finish the season strong. Though if Louisville wins out with an ACC Championship, it would certainly stay ahead of ND.
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports, who joined the Inside ND Sports podcast this week, currently projects Notre Dame in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Dec. 28 against Oklahoma State (6-2) in Orlando, Fla.
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