Notre Dame may have spent the better part of Saturday night in Fenway Park shooting themselves in the feet, but they did do one very important thing that some other title contenders forgot to do this weekend – they won. Even with their narrow victory over Boston College, the Irish have moved up to 4th in the Coaches Poll – their highest ranking since the final poll of the 2012 season – with one game remaining.
Notre Dame moved up one spot in the Coaches Poll this week and still remains ranked ahead of Oklahoma who comes in at #5 after they survived a failed two point conversion in the final minute to a TCU team playing without its best two players on Saturday night. While the Coaches Poll does not impact the CFP Rankings, its very good to see the Irish staying ahead of Oklahoma here right now.
Ohio State’s loss to Michigan State dropped the Buckeyes all the way down to 8th while the Spartans only moved up three spots to #6 – a sign that the Coaches really didn’t think the defending champ was really that good but was giving them the benefit of the doubt this whole time as the defending champion.
Perhaps the most shocking change in the Coaches Poll is 3rd ranked Iowa – the brand new owners of a single first place vote. The Hawkeyes remain unbeaten after taking care of Purdue yesterday.
Navy moved up the 15th in the Coaches Poll after checking in at #19 last week while Temple jumped back into the rankings at #24 following their win over Memphis. The Middies and Owls represent Notre Dame’s two wins over top 25 teams and are now a combined 18-3 on the season with two of those L’s courtesy of the Irish.
USC fell out of the rankings after getting trounced by Oregon in Eugene last week. The Trojans can still finish the season with 9 wins if they beat their other rival UCLA next weekend and win the Pac 12 Championship game.
Notre Dame’s next opponent, Stanford moved up to #12, up three spots from last week. They were 11th in the latest CFP Rankings and it stands to reason they will move into the Top 10 setting up a Thanksgiving weekend showdown of top 10 teams with the game serving as a CFP eliminator game.
The next round of the CFP Rankings come out Tuesday night and it will be interesting to see how things shake out and where the Irish stand in the only rankings that matter before the season finale.
@Subway Alum please note that pedophile Bob and I are different people. The old saying that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery is most certainly not true in this case, Subway. In this case a – – humper Bob is just a pathetic troll.
As for your observation I agree and disagree. I agree ND can play against Clemson or MSU. I also agree ND probably gets destroyed by Bama. As a result, I’d prefer not to deal as a fan with that again.
I’m going to hold off judgment on this team until after Stanford. Lose to the Cardinal and the whole thing is a moot point. Beat Stanford and perhaps this team can gain in confidence and get healthy for the POs.
I’d prefer to win a good (New Year’s) bowl game rather then get humiliated in a PO game or championship. But that’s just me and I respect those who would disagree.
@ Subway Alum – whats up bro? Thanks for the compliments. I find your humor refreshing an your analysis spot on. Were you a coach or college player in a previous life? Thais for raising the level of knowledge and acumen to this board of drivel. Let’s grab a beer at the next NAMBLA meeting.
@ SteelFanRob…finally a voice of reason. I agree with each of your separate observations. However, if the committee is kind to us, they’ll put us up against a team we ‘might’ beat (Clemson, Mich St, Okla) so that even if we are destroyed in the finale (likely Alabama), we at least beat a #1,#2 or #3 team first.
@Jack – you may know jack! Your analysis is spot-on, I think.
ND wins by only 3 against arguably the top defense in the country in their own backyard but OK wins by 1 against a reeling TCU without their two top stars and ND is supposed to fall behind them??
Even AL won a squeaker or two in there.
When helmet stickers are given out for the BC game make sure that the first one goes to the BC player who “roughed” the ND’s kicker, thereby turning a missed FG into a TD. A 7-point penalty that ultimately proved to be the difference in the game.
Just a pathetic effort by ND.
Frankly, I wouldn’t complain if they don’t make the POs at this point. BK, his staff, and this team have no one to blame but themselves. Gave up cheap points late to GT, Pitt, BC that cost “style points.” Could’ve beat Navy and Wake by more as well. And literally gave away a game to Clemson on the road.
Perhaps the best thing for these guys is to not make the POs and get humiliated.
We know these guys can play down to the lowest common denominator of an opponent. Lets see if they can play up and beat Stanford convincingly on the road. Short of that don’t even bother with talk of POs.
The Big 12 is 2-0 vs the SEC this year but don’t let facts get in the way of what you want to believe.
I predict ND will fall to 5 or 6 in the playoff rankings since everyone is now in love with Oklahoma. Common opponent we killed and they lost. Loss for ND to Clemson when we should have won that game. The Big 12 teams don’t tackle and could never win in the Big 10 or SEC, but they will get at least one team in.