For those Notre Dame fans who snickered at the partial USC scores coming from Berkeley, Calif., on Saturday night in which the Trojans trailed for much of their game with Cal, they may want to reconsider what a free-fall for the Irish arch-rival might mean in the bigger picture.
As the Irish (7-2) pursue a spot in the New Year’s Six bowl lineup, the Trojans — No. 24 in the newest AP poll released Sunday and No. 22 in the Coaches poll — now represent Notre Dame’s only win over a ranked team this season.
It’s all about building résumé equity in the month of November with the College Football Playoff selection committee, which releases its first set of rankings on Tuesday (7 p.m. EDT; ESPN). The committee will not only choose the playoff semifinalists in the 10th and final season of the four-team format, they designate the other New Year’s Six participants as well.
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The Irish warmed up for Tuesday night’s reveal moving up two spots in all three major polls — AP, Coaches and FWAA-NFF Super 16 — to No. 12 following their 58-7 obliteration of Pitt (2-6) on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium. It was the fourth-most lopsided result in the 73-game history of that series.
The top five spots in the AP poll remained unchanged, with Georgia at No. 1, followed by Michigan, Ohio State, Florida State and Washington.
Given the mix of conference tie-ins on at-large spots, ND would likely have to reach the Top 10 in the final CFP rankings on Dec. 3, to be included in the New Year’s Six lineup. Should the Irish accomplish that, their most likely landing spot would be the Peach Bowl, Dec. 30 in Atlanta.
What they can control is winning and winning impressively against a remaining schedule that doesn’t include a team with even a winning record — Clemson (4-4), Wake Forest (4-4) and Stanford (2-6).
The kick time Saturday at Clemson has been set for noon EDT, with ABC broadcasting the game.
USC barely stayed in the polls, rallying with 21 fourth-quarter points and then surviving a potential game-winning, two-point conversion attempt with 58 seconds left for a 50-49 victory over the host Bears (3-5). The game was delayed by a midfield sit-in, with roughly 15 people reportedly protesting the suspension of a Cal professor.
But the Trojans will have to solve their chronic problems on defense, or at least mitigate them. Their remaining regular-season schedule comprises games with No. 5 Washington, No. 6 Oregon and No. 20 UCLA.
Notre Dame’s 21-14 win at Duke on Sept. 30 had qualified as a ranked win, but the Blue Devils (5-3) fell out of the rankings after their 23-0 loss to Louisville on Saturday.
The Irish lost to their other two ranked opponents — 17-14 to now-Mo. 3 Ohio State on Sept. 23 and 33-20 at No. 15 Louisville on Oct. 7.
FWAA-NFF Super 16 poll
AP and Coaches polls
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