Notre Dame moved up two spots to #8 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night, but because of the seeding rules, the Irish would still be the 9th seed if the playoffs were to start today.
Notre Dame jumped ahead of Georgia and Miami following their losses this past weekend, but as the highest-rated ACC team, Miami would qualify for the #4 spot if the playoffs started today, so the Irish would get bumped down to 9th in terms of seeding. As the 9th seed, the Irish would travel to #8 Tennessee if the playoffs started this weekend.
Oregon stayed atop the rankings, with Ohio State remaining in second place. Texas and Penn State both jumped two spots to #3 and #4, respectively, while Indiana moved up three spots to #5 after improving to 10-0 on the season. BYU improved to #6 after being the beneficiary of some questionable late calls in their rivalry game against Utah.
Because of the automatic bids for the four major conference champions, Miami jumped to the fourth seed, BYU moved to third, and Texas moved to second in terms of seeding based on current rankings.
Should Notre Dame land in an 8/9 matchup, they would have to go on the road for the first round and then face the #1 seed, in this case, Oregon, in a potential round two matchup if they won. Considering the Irish are already #8, it’s still very possible they could host a playoff game if they win out. As the rankings are currently, they’d need to improve one spot to be in a position to host a game in the first round.
All of this, obviously, is subject to change over the final month as more upsets and chaos unfold over the final few weeks of the season. Notre Dame will only have one opportunity at most to add a win over a ranked opponent, with Army checking in at #24 in the latest rankings. With a bye week this weekend, the Black Knights will enter next weekend’s game in Yankee Stadium undefeated. If Notre Dame gets past Virginia unscathed this weekend, that will unpredictably be one of the bigger games of the weekend.
Notre Dame could boost its resume with the help of its two best wins—Texas A&M and Louisville. The idle Aggies fell a spot to #15 this week, with Ole Miss jumping them after their win over Georgia. A&M’s only ranked opponent left is #3 Texas to close the season. Louisville checks in at #19, moving up three spots. The Cardinals have no ranked opponents left ahead of them. Both teams winning out would significantly boost Notre Dame’s resume.
For anyone wondering how old friend Brian Kelly is doing this week after getting embarrassed by Alabama, the Tigers fell seven spots to #22.
not as of now PSU & OSU will be pushed back as only 1 big ten team can be conf champ & get a bye. That drops ND behind those 2 to #10 & acc champ moves ahead to. Things will have to fall perfectly to finish higher than #9
The conference champs automatically getting a Top 4 seed will not age well. At some point a very average team is going to get a bye.
I don”t know how penn st gets #4, they NEVER beat the top teams look at there record vs top 10!! They haven”t beaten a top 25 team this year, soft schedule keeps them afoat. Alotta teams are better than them, Ohio st , indiana in the big 10 alone.
There won’t be much of a difference where Notre Dame ends up whether they were to finish 11-1 or 12-0. They will end up hosting a first round playoff game regardless.