Notre Dame Football: Projecting Notre Dame’s College Football Playoff Ranking

Projecting the College Football Playoff Ranking – 2nd Week

The first inaugural College Football Playoff ranking placed Notre Dame outside of the Top 4 schools. The Irish found themselves ranked in 10th in the country. Will the College Football Playoff committee look at Notre Dame more favorably in the 2nd week?

The Fighting Irish defeated the Naval Academy, 49-39, on Saturday evening. The victory likely did not help Notre Dame’s perception in the eyes of the committee.

The only shake up in the Top 10 was Auburn’s victory over Ole Miss. Prior to the loss, Ole Miss was ranked 4th in the nation. The Rebels now have two losses on their record.

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The Rebels should fall behind the Irish. Therefore, Notre Dame would jump to 9th in the College Football Playoff rankings unless another team jumps in front them.

The two teams directly behind the Fighting Irish lost this weekend. The Florida Gators upset the #11 Georgia Bulldogs, 38-20. #12 Arizona Wildcats lost to the UCLA Bruins, 17-7. The Baylor Bears and Arizona State Sun Devils, the 13th and 14th teams, won their respective games. These two teams could jump the Irish based on their overall records.

Baylor’s sole loss was to West Virginia. The Bears defeated #7 ranked TCU Horned Frogs. Arizona State’s lone defeat was a 62-27 drubbing at the hands of UCLA. The best victory occurred on last week against #17 Utah. The Sun Devils also defeated Stanford and USC. If one of these teams would jump Notre Dame, it would likely be Baylor. Baylor has the better resume. The Sun Devils possess a similar resume to the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame’s close loss to Florida State looks much better on paper than Arizona State’s blowout loss to UCLA.

This weekend’s games will shake up the Top 10 greatly. A Notre Dame victory may help them jump in the polls. Additionally, this weekend’s slate includes Kansas State at TCU, Alabama at LSU, Ohio State at Michigan State and Oregon at Utah. If everything breaks in favor of the Irish on Saturday, Notre Dame could find themselves ranked 6th in the country.

The College Football Playoff committee will announce their new rankings tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Stay tuned to Slap the Sign for updates about Notre Dame’s push for the first inaugural College Football Playoff.

Projected Top 10: 1. Mississippi State 2. Florida State 3. Auburn 4. Oregon 5. Alabama 6. TCU 7. Michigan State 8. Kansas State 9. Notre Dame 10. Baylor