It’s fine
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish got the job done on Saturday by beating the Miami Redhawks. While the game never felt like it was in any real danger of slipping out of Notre Dame’s hands — the Irish still did not look anywhere near as dominant as we should expect a prospective playoff team to be.
That’s a harsh outlook for sure, but losing to NIU has its downfalls.
Still, a win is a win and the Irish crept up in both polls this week. Notre Dame is now 16th in the AP Top 25 Poll and 14th in the Coaches Poll.
Notre Dame still has two future opponents that are ranked in the polls with the USC Trojans at #13 after losing to the Michigan Wolverines, and the Louisville Cardinals are 3-0 and ranked #15. Notre Dame’s lone Top 25 win remains the Texas A&M Aggies at #24 with a 3-1 record.
The Navy Midshipmen are the only other Notre Dame opponent to receive any votes.