Category: Irish Game Day

Marcus Freeman talks with reporters as the Fighting Irish ready for Purdue. Freeman opened by emphasizing consistency; high standards; acceptance of responsibility; accountability; making every rep count; and, on defense, not letting a bad play turn into an explosive play.

‘Notre Dame,’ still without an official win for the season, somehow remains ranked in the top-25, the only “winless” team to do so. One source indicates this is the first time since 1988 that an 0-2 team has been ranked in the AP. Full rankings are listed at the bottom of the page.

The Irish dropped from #8 in the AP and Coaches Polls to #24 and #21, respectively.

Most recently they arguably won on the field over Texas A&M but lost in the record books, following a UFO-like non-call by SEC officials on the Aggies’ final score with 19 seconds remaining.  A veteran NFL official, turned network commentator, called the non-call “patently egregious,” and it essentially handed the game to the Aggies.

The Irish remain the only officially “winless” team still ranked in the AP and Coaches Polls.

Three Irish opponents are now ranked, including Southern Call at #25 in the AP, along #4/6 Miami (Fla.) and #10 Texas A&M. Although, like Colorado the year they accidentally were offered five downs instead of four at a key moment in a close game, Texas A&M seems destined to have a large asterisk next to them the remainder of the season.

North Carolina State and Navy are in the “also receiving votes” category, joined by Southern Cal in the Coaches Poll. Southern, as mentioned, cracked the top-25 in the AP.

Despite their long history, and former relevance, both the AP and Coaches Poll, of course, are unofficial.The first official 2025 College Football Playoff rankings come out Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 8 p.m.

In the ‘Notre Dame’-Texas A&M game, the Aggies, trailing by six, took one final shot on a 4th-and-goal from the Irish 11 with 19 seconds left.  An Irish pass rusher beat his blocker(s) and was rushing into the backfield, practically up the middle, For an instant, he was barreling after the quarterback, but an apparently desperate Texas A&M offensive lineman reached out from behind and essentially tackled the pass rusher.

Multiple SEC officials in position for a clear line of sight ignored the illegal take-down. They let stand an Aggie touchdown that would not have been possible without the cheating.

The effort to determine a clear winner, short-circuited by the SEC officials, capped a wild back-and-forth game with big plays, ugly lapses and flashes of championship-caliber potential. Each team seemed like a potential “diamond in the rough,” even as the Irish had the upper hand, if the rules been enforced accurately and honestly.

In a bizarre twist, at least one of SEC officials on hand, the umpire, responsible for monitoring line play, was also a part of the infamous SEC officiating crew whose non-call in last year’s SEC conference title game was one of the worst, and most physically dangerous, non-calls in modern memory. In that instance, at key moment, the SEC officials failed to throw a flag on someone flying in, using their own head like a medieval battering ram to knock off somebody else’s helmet.

All of this, of course, begs the question, what in the world were SEC officials doing at ‘Notre Dame’ in the first place, rather than ACC officials. For that matter, in the past, ‘Notre Dame’ sometimes used neutral MAC officials for home games.

– AP – 1 Ohio State 3-0 2 Penn State 3-0 3 LSU 3-0 4 Miami (Fla.) 3-0 5 Georgia 3-0 6 Oregon 3-0 7 Florida State 3-0 8 Texas 2-1 9 Illinois 3-0 10 Texas A&M 3-0* 11 Oklahoma 3-0 12 Iowa State 4-0 13 Ole Miss 3-0 14 Alabama 2-1 15 Tennessee 3-0 16 Utah 3-0 17 Texas Tech 3-0 18 Georgia Tech 3-0 19 Indiana 3-0 20 Vanderbilt 3-0 21 Michigan 2-1 22 Auburn 3-0 23 Missouri 3-0 24 Notre Dame 0-2 25 USC 3-0 Also receiving votes: BYU 94, South Florida 83, South Carolina 82, Mississippi State 69, TCU 67, Arizona State 57, Tulane 33, Louisville 25, Nebraska 9, Baylor 6, Clemson 6, SMU 4, NC State 4, UNLV 2, Navy 1

– AFCA Coaches Poll – 1 Ohio State 3-0 2 Penn State 3-0 3 Georgia 3-0 4 LSU 3-0 5 Oregon 3-0 6 Miami (Fla.) 3-0 7 Texas 2-1 8 Illinois 3-0 9 Florida State 3-0 10 Texas A&M 3-0 11 Ole Miss 3-0 12 Oklahoma 3-0 13 Iowa State 4-0 14 Alabama 2-1 15 Tennessee 3-0 16 Texas Tech 3-0 17 Indiana 3-0 18 Utah 3-0 19 Georgia Tech 3-0 20 Michigan 2-1 21 Notre Dame 0-2 22 Missouri 3-0 23 Vanderbilt 3-0 24 South Carolina 3-0 25 Auburn 3-0 Also receiving votes: BYU 158, Arizona State 141, USC 117, Clemson 116, Tulane 107, Louisville 53, TCU 49, South Florida 48, Mississippi State 27, SMU 24, Nebraska 24, Navy 15, Memphis 14, Washington 13, NC State 13, Baylor 8, Houston 5, Kansas 2, UNLV 1, California 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 2-1)

Marcus Freeman talks with reporters after the Fighting Irish primetime matchup with Texas A&M.