Ten days before the college football rankings begin to matter and aren’t just fodder for social media squabbles, Notre Dame made its final impression Saturday with its most lopsided win over a ranked opponent since 1992 and third-widest margin in such a matchup ever,
The Irish (7-1) won’t have another data point to contribute to its College Football Playoff case for inclusion until four days after the CFP selection committee releases its first set of rankings Nov. 5 from 7 to 8 p.m. EST on ESPN.
The committee’s Dec. 9 rankings will determine which 12 teams make the first-ever 12-team version of the College Football Player and in what seeded order.
In the meantime, Notre Dame’s 51-14 demolition of then-No. 24 Navy at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., played well Sunday in the season-long polls voted on by the AP media panel and FBS coaches panel. That is, coupled with Texas A&M’s 38-23 takedown of former Irish coach Brian Kelly’s LSU Tigers on Saturday night.
The Irish moved from No. 11 to No. 9 in the coaches poll, and from No. 12 to 8 in the AP poll. The Aggies (7-1 overall, 5-0 SEC), now the only unbeaten team in SEC play, are the only current Top 25 team ND has played/beaten, but it’s a big perceptual point. The Irish opened the 2024 season with a 23-13 takedown of Texas A&M in College Station, Texas on Aug. 31.
The Aggies moved up four spots to No. 10 in the AP poll.
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Meanwhile, the top five teams in the AP poll are Oregon, followed by Georgia, Penn State, Ohio State and Miami (Fla.). The Hurricanes jumped Texas, which slipped one spot to sixth,
Army (7-0), idle this past weekend, is the only ranked team or even with a winning record among ND’s remaining four opponents after its upcoming bye week. The Cadets are No. 21st.
Florida State, which comes to Notre Dame Stadium for the lone Irish home night game this season, is 1-7 and will host North Carolina Saturday ahead of the Irish clash.
Virginia (4-4) is on a three-game losing streak and has a bye, then a road game at unbeaten PItt (7-0) before visiting South Bend on Nov. 16.
Army has Air Force at home, a road test at North Texas and then a bye before meeting the Irish in a Shamrock Series matchup Nov. 23 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. USC (4-4) has Washington on the road, a bye, Nebraska at home and UCLA at the Rose Bowl before hosting the Irish in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Notre Dame under third-year head coach Marcus Freeman is 4-0 in games immediately following a bye week, including a 49-7 trouncing of Stanford on Oct. 12.
“When I meet with you again, I’m going to tell you about the improvements that we need to make,” Freeman said Saturday after the Navy win. “It’s the reality of people that aren’t satisfied. We want more. We want the best, but we’re going to enjoy today. I’m proud of the way they prepared, the way they played. For the most part after halftime, how we came out with a sense of urgency to continue to execute in all three phases and improve.”
In the previous 10 initial sets of College Football Playoff rankings — all of which eventually determined a four-team field — the Irish appeared in the Top 25 in all but two — 2016 and 2022. ND’s lowest debuting position when the Irish actually did make the rankings was No. 15 — both last season and in 2019.
The highest CFP rankings debut point was No. 2 in 2020, when Notre Dame was a temporary full-time member of the ACC due to the COVID-19 pandemic logistics and protocols.
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