Notre Dame lost the game and its top 5 preseason ranking Tuesday after falling on the road to No. 2 Ohio State, 21-10, in its season opener on Saturday night.
But not the respect it garnered during the run-up to Marcus Freeman’s first season as Irish head football coach.
ND (0-1) remained in the Top 10 of both major polls Tuesday, landing at No. 8 in the Associated Press writers poll and No. 9 in the coaches poll. The Irish host unranked Marshall (1-0) Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium (2:30 p.m. EDT; NBC), seeking their 43rd successive victory over a non-Top 25 team.
Its the longest such active streak in the nation.
Ohio State (1-0) slipped a spot in both polls, to No. 3, more likely a product of defending national champ Georgia’s 49-3 domination of then-No. 11 Oregon on Saturday. The Bulldogs (1-0) are the new No. 2 behind top-ranked Alabama (1-0).
Future Irish opponents in the AP poll are Clemson (1-0), down a spot to No. 5 after a slow-starting 41-10 victory over Georgia Tech on Monday night. USC (1-0) is up four spots to No. 10 after a 66-14 rout of Rice.
BYU (1-0) is up four spots to No. 21. The Cougars scored the first 38 points after a 2 ½-hour weather delay Saturday night in waxing South Florida on the road, 50-21.
In the coaches poll, Clemson was fourth, USC 12th and BYU 25th.
Former ND coach Brian Kelly’s LSU team landed just outside of the Top 25 in both polls in the preseason, but the Tigers (0-1) did not receive a single vote in either poll Tuesday after falling to underdog Florida State, 24-23, Sunday night in New Orleans.
The AP and coaches polls were each delayed two days this week because of the extended Labor Day schedule. They’ll both move back to their regular Sunday release dates this coming week.
The first College Football Playoff poll, which determines playoff participants and New Year’s Six matchups, won’t debut until Nov. 1. That’s five days before the Irish host No. 5 Clemson.
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