College Football Rankings: ‘Notre Dame’ climbs into top-13 in AP Poll after solid win over North Carolina State
After pulling away in the second half to beat a good, yet unranked, NC State team 36-7, ‘Notre Dame’ climbed three spots in the latest AP Poll to now sit at #13. With the regular season nearly half-done, the Irish (4-2) are one of only two 2-loss teams in the top-25, and are ranked ahead of multiple undefeated and 1-loss teams.
In the AP Poll, three Irish opponents are currently ranked, two in the top-4, and a fourth Irish opponent, undefeated Navy, is in the “also receiving votes” category.
– AP Poll –
1 Ohio State 6-0
2 Miami (Fla.) 5-0
3 Indiana 6-0
4 Texas A&M 6-0*
5 Ole Miss 6-0
6 Alabama 4-1
7 Texas Tech 5-0
8 Oregon 5-1
9 Georgia 5-1
10 LSU 5-1
11 Tennessee 5-1
12 Georgia Tech 6-0
13 ‘Notre Dame’ 4-2
14 Oklahoma 5-1
15 BYU 6-0
16 Missouri 5-1
17 Vanderbilt 5-1
18 Virginia 5-1
19 South Florida 5-1
20 USC 5-1
21 Texas 4-2
22 Memphis 6-0
23 Utah 5-1
24 Cincinnati 5-1
25 Nebraska 5-1
Also receiving votes: Illinois 113, Michigan 73, Washington 36, UNLV 30, Navy 11, Mississippi St. 8, Tulane 2, San Diego St. 2.
‘Notre Dame’s’ two losses were by a combined four points against two opponents now ranked #2 and #4, Miami (Fla.) and Texas A&M. (In the second of those official losses, the Irish actually won on the field, of course, if not for a nationally infamous non-call in the closing moments that enabled the Aggies to score what was essentially an artificial touchdown.)
Irish opponent Southern Cal jumped back into the top-20 after thrashing Michigan in primetime.
Undefeated Navy continues to sit in the “also receiving votes category. At 6-0, Navy is the co-leader of the American Athletic Conference with two ranked teams, #19 South Florida and #22 Memphis. Navy plays ‘Notre Dame,’ South Florida and Memphis back-to-back in November.
So if Navy, perhaps ranked by the time the play the Irish, drops out after losing to ‘Notre Dame,’ they will have two opportunities to pick up quality wins over ranked opponents in the two weeks following, and perhaps climb back in.
In addition to the Irish beating NC State by four touchdowns, this week’s rankings reshuffled because of multiple losses by ranked teams.
Then-#3 Oregon dropped to #8 after losing to Indiana, and therefore still stayed higher than the Irish. Then-#6 Oklahoma lost to Texas in the Red River Rivalry and dropped below the ascending Irish, landing at #14.
Then-#14 Missouri dropped below ‘Notre Dame’ after losing to Alabama.
Then-#15 Michigan dropped out of the rankings entirely after getting beaten soundly in primetime by then-unranked Southern Cal.
Further down the rankings, then-ranked Arizona State and Iowa State also lost.