Notre Dame Almost Gets the Respect It Deserves in Latest CFP Rankings

A week after essentially being told, "win or go home" by the College Football Playoff committee, Notre Dame was rewarded handsomely after beating previously No. 1 Miami.

Notre Dame, which debuted in the College Football Playoff rankings at No. 11 last week, jumped six spots this week to No. 5. It passed a slew of teams, including Miami, which fell from No. 1 to No. 7.

The entire top 25 went as follows:

1. Georgia
2. Utah
3. Alabama
4. UCLA
5. Notre Dame
6. Texas
7. Miami (FL)
8. Tennessee
9. Indiana
10. BYU
11. Kentucky
12. Texas Tech
13. Wake Forest
14. Houston
15. Iowa
16. Oregon
17. South Carolina
18. USC
19. Ole Miss
20. Ohio State
21. LSU
22. Missouri
23. Arizona
24. Boise State
25. Oklahoma State

Instant Takeaways Regarding Notre Dame:

I'm not going to say that I told you so, because what sports writer or media personality would ever do such a thing?

However, right after Notre Dame knocked off Miami, I told you this was pretty much exactly how this would all go.

Who Notre Dame Jumped

Notre Dame jumped the following: Kentucky, BYU, Indiana, Miami (FL), Texas, and Ole Miss.

Four of those teams suffered losses, Texas survived at Missouri but has two losses and lacks as impressive of win as Notre Dame has after what has happened with Ohio State, and Indiana finally got punished for having beat nobody with a pulse to date.

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Alabama Love Fest Harms Notre Dame

While I don't agree with Alabama being ranked third with two losses, I'm not surprised by it. I'll give the committee the benefit of the doubt and say that they aren't being told by ESPN or the SEC how to rank teams. Instead, they're purely incompetent when it comes to Alabama.

There is a significant chance that Alabama's best win to date, at Kentucky, ends up being against a team that beat no ranked teams by season's end.

Yet, here they are at No. 3 for...losing closely to Georgia at home?

Notre Dame obviously wants to avoid having to play a First Round game, and its chances appear strong of that, but if Alabama only loses one more game and it comes in the SEC championship to Georgia, will it not be punished and drop a spot again?

Depending what happens with Utah and UCLA the rest of the way, that could keep Notre Dame from a bye.

Week Ahead for Notre Dame

Notre Dame has played just two teams that appear in the top 25: at BYU and against Miami. The hope this week for the Fighting Irish is that SMU can take down one-loss Wake Forest in Dallas, and get into the rankings when it plays at Notre Dame next week.

Also, Notre Dame has to hope for Wisconsin to win its remaining three games (at Maryland, at Purdue, vs. Minnesota) in order to hopefully end the season with an additional ranked win.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thought

For the record, I didn't watch this show live. I don't need the self-righteousness that comes with the announcements, nor do I need to pretend these things will mean anything by the time the end of the regular season actually arrives.

I saw how last year ended.

I remember how last year ended.

And I refuse to get excited about anything until its final as a result.

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