Notre Dame Football: Was bias a factor in final Irish ranking?
By Matt Clark
No. 7 Baylor (11-2)
Baylor only had two games this year against ranked opponents and both of them were against Oklahoma. Baylor gave the Sooners all they could handle both times, losing by a combined ten points. While the lack of ranked opponents are a clear potential knock against the Bears, their strength of schedule was 44th in the nation, which still put them ahead of Alabama and Utah. Given how tough they played Oklahoma, who looked like one of the more dominant teams in college football all year, Baylor deserves to be ranked above Notre Dame.
No. 8 Wisconsin (10-3)
Wisconsin is the first team with three losses ranked ahead of Notre Dame, having lost games to unranked Illinois (24-23), and twice to Ohio State — once in the regular season (38-7) and again in the Big-10 conference championship game (34-21). The Badgers also had wins against ranked team Michigan (35-14), Iowa (24-22) and Minnesota (38-17). While losing to Illinois — where they were a 21 point favorite — is a bad loss, the Illini ended up being a much better team than anticipated. Losing twice to arguably the best team in the nation is understandable. As it compares to Notre Dame, Wisconsin was able to crush Michigan, albeit at home, while the Irish were crushed by the Wolverines. Wisconsin deserves to be ranked higher than Notre Dame.
No. 9 Florida (10-2)
Florida played three games against ranked opponents this season and lost two of them. They would defeat Auburn (24-13) and would lose to LSU (42-28) and Georgia (24-17). While the Gators come in three spots higher than the Irish in the strength of schedule rankings, this is certainly a team that the Irish could make an argument that they should be ranked ahead of. Both lost to a common opponent in 5th ranked Georgia, but the point differential was in Notre Dame’s favor, despite the Irish playing in Athens, GA and the Gators getting the Bulldogs on a neutral field.
In addition to playing Georgia closer than Florida, the Irish also boast more wins against ranked opponents, while Florida has a win against a higher ranked opponent. That said, the Irish have a legitimate argument to be ranked ahead of the Gators. Perhaps more credence was given to them due to SEC bias, despite the conference not being as dominant as it has been in the past.