Notre Dame football is nation's best according to at least one system

When discussing why Notre Dame Football doesn’t belong in the College Football Playoff field, the game most often mentioned is their loss to Northern Illinois. That’s despite the fact that the Irish have won 10 straight since that loss.

While there are plenty of people who talk about the Irish being overrated, there is at least one rating system that has them among the cream of the crop. In fact, it has them as them on top of the cream.

Jeff Sagarin’s ratings have Notre Dame Football as the number-one team in the country. Despite a schedule that some claim isn’t that tough. Despite that loss to NIU. Despite all the other excuses, people constantly dream up as to why the Irish, despite dominating performance after dominating performance, aren’t as good as they look.

Notre Dame football gets rated No. 1 by Sagarin

Not only are the Irish rated as the top team in the country, according to Sagarin, and it’s not particularly close. Notre Dame earned a 92.62 rating. The nearest team is the Texas Longhorns, who earned a 91.98 rating.

Ohio State (91.40), Oregon (90.86), and Alabama (89.34) round out the top five. Ducks fans will no doubt be upset at the No. 4 rating despite being the only undefeated squad in the group.

There will be plenty of people who take issue with these ratings. Especially with Notre Dame football at the very top of the list. But some believe the Irish are as good as they’ve looked. And they’ll get to prove it in the next few weeks.