Now that Notre Dame is officially in good standing for the College Football Playoffs, there have been plenty of reactions. Not the least of those is the number of people who think they don't deserve to be ranked as high as they are because of their 0-2 start to the season. However, don't count ESPN's Rece Davis among those who don't think Marcus Freeman's squad deserves to be in.
Davis recently did a segment with Heather Dinich, who has become ESPN's College Football Playoffs expert. She was discussing the fact that the Irish could likely drop out of playoff contention if they lose another game. In that same segment, Davis made it clear he thinks ND is better than they're getting credit for from the media in general.
Rece Davis backs Notre Dame football’s College Football Playoff ranking
"Notre Dame is one loss away from opening a hole for some other team to jump up," Dinich said. "Hey Pitt, there's your spoiler."
Davis then responded, "Maybe but you know, what? You go eye test, I'm still saying they're Top 5 ... I believe in the Irish, just going to die on the hill."
Eye test has been an interesting discussion point since the first CFP playoffs bracket was released. There are some who believe the committee is relying on that more than analytics in order to determine who is ranked where.
There are also plenty of complaints about Notre Dame being ranked 10th. At the same time, the team that lost its season opener to Miami is No. 18. However, the committee has explained that choice by pointing to the direction the two programs are headed. The Irish have won six in a row, while Miami has lost two of its last three.