With yesterday’s 23-13 win over BYU on senior day, Notre Dame re-entered the AP Top 25 on Sunday at #25 setting the stage for a Top 25 showdown next weekend when the Irish travel to Pal Alto. The Irish had dropped out of the Top 25 following the loss to Pitt two weeks ago.
Notre Dame has a checkered resume this year or otherwise they may be ranked higher than 25th right now. Notre Dame has beaten three teams currently in the top 25 – Michigan State, Arizona State, and USC – and could end up with two wins over BCS conference champions if Michigan State and Arizona State go on to win their respective conferences.
On the other hand though, Notre Dame has a couple bad losses blemishing it’s resume as well. That early season loss to Michigan is looking worse and worse with each Michigan loss. The Wolverines have now lost four of their last six games after falling to Iowa this past weekend. Of the four losses Michigan has suffered, only one has come at the hands of a ranked opponent.
Then there’s that ugly loss two weeks ago to Pitt. Since beating Notre Dame two weeks ago, PItt has lost to North Carolina and them limped past Syracuse.
Notre Dame’s other loss did come at the hands of a ranked opponent though with Oklahoma coming in at #20 in the most recent poll.
Next weekend’s opponent, Stanford, come in at #8 in the AP Poll.
If those losses had occurred all in the early part of the season maybe it would have looked differently. The Pitt loss was just inexcusable and on national TV. I’m not fully convinced they even belong at 25. Beat Stanford at Palo Alto and that would make up for it. They have a tough task ahead of them.