Fighting Irish crack top-10 after road win over Boston College and continued attrition among ranked teams; final AP and Coaches Poll before CFP rankings
After ‘Notre Dame’s’ solid 25-10 road win over Boston College in Chestnut Hill Saturday, the Fighting Irish finally returned to the top-10 in the AP and Coaches Poll, amidst renewed reshufflings occasioned by multiple ranked teams picking up losses.
Georgia Tech, Miami (Fla.) and Vanderbilt had been ranked ahead of the Irish but lost in upsets and dropped below them. ‘Notre Dame’ climbed two spots.
The latest AP Poll and Coaches Poll are the last ones of the year prior to the season’s first College Football Playoff (CFP) Rankings, announced Tuesday night on cable TV.
The Irish and their opponents are in boldface below. Three Irish opponents are ranked, with two more in the “also receiving votes” category. Next week’s opponent Navy, which had been ranked in the Coaches Poll, fell out of the rankings after an upset loss to a good North Texas team that, itself, is receiving votes in the rankings.
| – AP –
1 Ohio State 8-0 Also receiving votes: Iowa 71, James Madison 53, Pittsburgh 35, San Diego State 30, North Texas 27, South Florida 23, SMU 7, Houston 6, Illinois 4, LSU 4, Arizona State 4 |
– AFCA Coaches Poll –
1 Ohio State 8-0 Also receiving votes: Washington 82, North Texas 60, James Madison 44, San Diego State 30, Pittsburgh 29, South Florida 21, Houston 18, Navy 16, TCU 12, Illinois 8, SMU 6, Arizona State 2, Tulane 1, Minnesota 1, LSU 1 |
(* Texas A&M wins include one where the winning touchdown in the final seconds was essentially the result of cheating, when, on the Aggies’ last offensive play of the game, an Aggie offensive lineman tackled a pass rusher from behind as he was barreling towards the quarterback; but an SEC officiating crew ignored the penalty and did not throw a flag; without the cheating and/or the non-call, the Aggies likely would be 7-1)
One should keep in mind that, even though the AP and Coaches Poll are more extensive, credible and substantive, and better credentialed, than the College Football Playoff Committee’s rankings, or perhaps for that very reason, they are not a perfect predictor of the CFP rankings.
Nevertheless, as a matter of practical logistics, the somewhat eclectic CFP rankings now control major bowl bids, and brackets for the postseason cable TV mini-tournament into which the major bowls are now embedded.
That tournament, of course, also is a self-proclaimed national playoff, to be viewable on cable. It is endorsed, branded and administered by the NCAA as a way to nurture the Indianapolis-based association’s relevance and administrative primacy in a sport that predated the NCAA by many years and, for a time earlier in the modern era, arguably essentially kicked out the NCAA, ironically over TV policies.