Notre Dame's biggest rival is doing the Irish a massive favor in the CFP rankings

With the first installment of the College Football Playoff rankings coming out, it of course sparks the whole debate of who is ranked where they should be, who is too high, and who is too low. Of course, like every season, the college football world believes that Notre Dame is way too high at No. 10 with two losses on the season.

The selection committee chairman, Mack Rhoades though spoke after the rankings were released and gave a bit of an explanation as to why the Fighting Irish were ranked as high as they were.

"We had a lot of conversation, obviously, about Notre Dame. I think it starts with two losses, total of four points, against two very, very good teams," Rhoades said. "We think Notre Dame is a really — when we look at the tape, we think Notre Dame is a really solid football team, both sides of the ball."

Notre Dame's win over USC is looking better and better

Yes, Notre Dame has two losses against ranked teams, No. 18 Miami and No. 3 Texas A&M, and unlike other teams, they don't have any unranked losses. They also have a win over No. 19 USC, which is looking like a solid team every week.

That win over USC is looking better and better for the Fighting Irish with each win they get. The Trojans were able to hold off Nebraska this past weekend, which kept them in the rankings, which keeps Notre Dame's only ranked win alive.

As much as Notre Dame fans may not want to, they need to be rooting for USC going forward because the higher USC is ranked, the better that win looks for the Fighting Irish. If USC drops out of the rankings at all, then that quality win goes away for Notre Dame, and the selection committee could take that into consideration.

Yes, the committee likes Notre Dame and the team they are becoming, but they still have to look at the resume, so if the bitter rival of the Trojans can continue to play well, it only helps the Fighting Irish.