Too early? NEVER!
A missed rankings post for Notre Dame Football gives me the opportunity to dive into how the Irish opponents did this week, and tie it all together. It’s never too early to start looking at the positioning of it all. Despite the AP Poll having no official place with the College Football Playoff rankings, it’s a good enough litmus test until we get there.
So how did the Irish opponents do this week?
#25 Texas A&M Aggies — WON vs Florida Gators (2-1) —
#23 Northern Illinois — BYE (2-0) —
Purdue Boilermakers — LOST vs ND (1-1) —
Miami Redhawks — LOST vs Cincinnati Bearcats (0-2) —
#19 Louisville Cardinals — BYE (2-0) —
Stanford Cardinal BYE — (1-1) —
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets — WON vs VMI (3-1) —
Navy Midshipmen — BYE (2-0) —
Florida State Seminioles — LOST vs Memphis (0-3) —
Virginia Cavaliers — LOST vs Maryland Terrapins (2-1) —
Army Black Knights — BYE (2-0) —
#11 USC Trojans — BYE (2-0) —
The rankings for this week were very close to being shuffled up even more. A handful of teams in front of the Irish had some tough games last week, and we could have seen a top 15 Notre Dame team with a couple different results. For a team trying to bury the NIU game — that’s not bad.
While no one is expecting 66-7 wins throughout the rest of the season, the Irish could really put themselves in great position with convincing victories over the next four weeks. The main goal right now is for the Irish to have a chance to host a playoff game. They’re going to need at least an 8 seed to do that — and they’ll need some help along the way.
