Notre Dame Jumps Into Top-4 after Close Win Over Pitt, While Half of Top-10 Loses
After undefeated Notre Dame (7-0) rallied to beat Pitt (3-4) by a score of 19-14 — and half of the previous top-10 lost — the Irish jumped into the top-4 in both the Coaches Poll and the AP. The Irish rose to #4 from their previous #5 spot.
This threshold, of course, will grab the attention of those already caught up in College Football Playoff prognostications, since the playoff, in its present form, is limited to four teams. The first official College Playoff Rankings, however, will not come out for two weeks, on Tuesday, Oct. 30.
Most interesting for Notre Dame’s strength of schedule purposes, Notre Dame opponent Michigan climbed into the top-10 at #6/#7 after beating Wisconsin. Michigan’s only loss was to Notre Dame in the season opener. Notre Dame opponent Stanford remained at #24 in the Coaches Poll, with the Cardinal in the “also receiving votes” category of the AP. Southern Cal is “also receiving votes” in both the AP and Coaches Poll, while Virginia Tech is only receiving votes in the Coaches Poll.
Meanwhile, West Virginia, Washington, Penn State and Wisconsin all dropped out of the top-10 in the Coaches Poll after losing. Georgia remained in the top-10 in both polls. (Wisconsin dropped in both polls, yet had only been in the Coaches Poll top-10 the previous week, not that of the AP.)
At this point, only eight teams in the top-25 are still undefeated, just five in the top-10 — Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Notre Dame and Central Florida. Central Florida, the only Div. I-A/FBS team to go undefeated last year, now sits at #9/#10.
Further down in the rankings, North Carolina State also remains undefeated, as do future Central Florida opponents South Florida and Cincinnati. Indeed, the American Athletic Conference currently has three undefeated teams, while the ACC has two, plus ACC partner Notre Dame.
If current trends continue, looming large will be a regular season finale between undefeated #2 Ohio State and #6/#7 Michigan, whom Notre Dame beat at the start of the season.
(first-place votes in parentheses) (Notre Dame opponents marked in dark blue)
AP
Rank Team Record Points
1 Alabama 7-0 1,524
2 Ohio State 7-0 1,457
3 Clemson 6-0 1,392
4 Notre Dame 7-0 1,355
5 LSU 6-1 1,244
6 Michigan 6-1 1,146
7 Texas 6-1 1,144
8 Georgia 6-1 1,085
9 Oklahoma 5-1 999
10 UCF 6-0 979
11 Florida 6-1 931
12 Oregon 5-1 917
13 West Virginia 5-1 700
14 Kentucky 5-1 678
15 Washington 5-2 640
16 North Carolina State 5-0 592
17 Texas A&M 5-2 551
18 Penn State 4-2 523
19 Iowa 5-1 266
20 Cincinnati 6-0 243
21 South Florida 6-0 242
22 Mississippi State 4-2 231
23 Wisconsin 4-2 226
24 Michigan State 4-2 199
25 Washington State 5-1 136
Also receiving votes: Stanford 71, San Diego St. 53, Southern Cal 53, Appalachian St. 51, Colorado 49, Utah St. 38, Miami 38, Utah 33, Duke 17, Texas Tech 8, Fresno St. 7, Houston 3, Maryland 2, Virginia 2.
Coaches Poll
Rank Team Record Points
1 Alabama(61) 7-0 1597
2 Ohio State(1) 7-0 1518
3 Clemson(2) 6-0 1484
4 Notre Dame 7-0 1408
5 LSU 6-1 1303
6 Georgia 6-1 1163
7 Michigan 6-1 1149
8 Texas 6-1 1138
9 UCF 6-0 1034
10 Oklahoma 5-1 1019
11 Oregon 5-1 927
12 Florida 6-1 918
13 West Virginia 5-1 768
14 Washington 5-2 682
15 NC State 5-0 637
16 Penn State 4-2 604
17 Kentucky 5-1 589
18 Texas A&M 5-2 501
19 Wisconsin 4-2 399
20 South Florida 6-0 346
21 Cincinnati 6-0 248
22 Iowa 5-1 218
23 Washington State 5-1 211
24 Stanford 4-2 147
25 Colorado 5-1 141
Also receiving votes: Miami 124, Mississippi State 110, Michigan State 98, San Diego State 71, Duke 60, Appalachian State 55, Utah State 33, Utah 32, Southern Cal 25, Houston 7, Fresno State 6, South Carolina 5, Army 4, Virginia 4, Auburn 4, Virginia Tech 3, North Texas 3, Iowa State 3, Boston College 1, UAB 1, Texas Tech 1, Buffalo 1
