Notre Dame’s bye week did not do the Fighting Irish any favors in the Associated Press Top 25.
The 6-1 Irish slid to No. 5 in the latest poll, a drop that looks especially strange considering they didn’t play. Georgia and Indiana moved ahead of them, and both jumps are bound to fuel the kind of ranking debate that never really dies down during the season.
What makes the movement hard to square is how the results lined up around Notre Dame. The Irish were idle, Georgia was idle, and BYU - the team that beat Notre Dame 28-24 - lost in overtime to UCF, a now 4-3 unranked team. Still, Notre Dame fell behind both Georgia and Indiana.
Georgia’s case is the one that will draw the sharpest questions. The Bulldogs lost to Auburn, and Auburn was then blown out by LSU this weekend.
Notre Dame, meanwhile, dropped its only game to BYU, and that loss now sits next to BYU’s own overtime defeat at UCF. Yet Georgia wound up ahead of BYU, while Notre Dame also dropped below Indiana.
Indiana’s leap is no easier to explain. The Hoosiers needed overtime to beat Michigan, a now 4-3 unranked team, in a game that was tied 6-6 before the extra period. That was enough to vault them past the idle Irish.
Notre Dame’s schedule still has room to reshape the picture. The Irish face No.
1 Miami on November 7 and then meet the now No. 19 SMU Mustangs on November 21.
Miami strengthened its standing with a 52-23 win over Pittsburgh, while SMU rolled past California 59-20.
BYU’s placement adds another layer to the head-scratching math. The Cougars own wins over No.
5 Notre Dame and No. 22 Arizona, yet they landed at No. 8, five spots behind Georgia and three behind the Irish.
Georgia’s best win is over No. 10 Alabama, while Notre Dame’s best win is over now No.
25 Wisconsin, which beat USC 24-7 to enter the rankings. Georgia’s loss came against a 4-3, unranked Auburn team at home, while BYU’s came on the road in overtime to UCF.
The poll also produced another ranking quirk with No. 10 Alabama sitting ahead of No. 16 Tennessee, even though both teams have identical records and Tennessee beat Alabama 26-10 just one week ago.
The full AP Top 25: Miami, Ohio State, Georgia, Indiana, Notre Dame, Utah, UCLA, BYU, Kentucky, Alabama, Texas, Ole Miss, Texas Tech, Wake Forest, LSU, Tennessee, Florida, Houston, SMU, Boise State, Northwestern, Arizona, Missouri, Oklahoma State and Wisconsin.
In Other News...
Notre Dames BYU Loss Just Took On Even Bigger Meaning
UCLAs unbeaten start under first-year coach Bob Chesney has become one of the early surprises of the season, and the Bruins are suddenly looking like a real Big Ten contender. For Notre Dame, that matters because the Irish loss to BYU already had ripple effects, and the Cougars rsum has only gotten stronger as the season has gone on.
BYUs upset win over Notre Dame is carrying even more weight now, with the Cougars climbing in the rankings and improving their playoff case. Oregons uneven season has also added another wrinkle to the national picture, especially after the loss of quarterback Dante Moore left the Ducks in a tougher spot and made the path to the postseason even less certain. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Faces A Complicated Ranking Drop After Costly Upset
Miami held onto the No. 1 spot in the AP college football rankings after rolling past Pittsburgh, with Darian Mensah and Malachi Toney helping keep the Hurricanes on top. For Notre Dame fans watching the top of the poll, the more immediate intrigue centers on what comes next behind Miami, especially after BYU entered the weekend at No. 2 and then stumbled in a double-overtime loss to UCF.
Ohio State is widely expected to rise to No. 2, but the rest of the top six could get messy in a hurry. BYUs drop opens the door for Notre Dame, Indiana and Georgia to jockey for position, and the exact order will depend on how pollsters sort out a crowded group of teams with legitimate claims to the upper reaches of the rankings. [Read more 🡒]
Marcus Freemans Notre Dame Pitch To Leonard Moore Said Everything
Marcus Freemans recruiting pitch to Leonard Moores family was refreshingly direct, and it fit the way he has built Notre Dames roster. Dr. Leonard Moore, Leonards father, said Freeman leaned into the schools academic demands and made it clear that nothing about the football path would come easy, including the fight for snaps. It was less about selling comfort than selling a challenge, and that candor clearly resonated enough for Moore to commit to the Irish.
Once he arrived, Moore did not have to wait long to validate the fit. He was in the starting lineup by Week 5 of his freshman season and began making his presence felt on defense, the kind of early impact that usually comes only when a player is ready for the expectations Freeman puts in front of him. The larger point in the recruiting story is obvious enough: Notre Dame is not promising shortcuts, and Freeman is not pretending otherwise, which may be exactly why players like Moore are buying in. [Read more 🡒]