Thoughts on Notre Dame Dropping in AP Poll During Bye Week

Notre Dame dropped in the AP Poll after a bye week, in large part due to BYU getting upset

Oct 17, 2026; Provo, Utah, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish wide receiver Jordan Faison (6) runs after a catch against the Brigham Young Cougars during the first half at LaVell Edwards Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Saturday came and went during Notre Dame's 2026 bye week, and the Fighting Irish got mixed results against opponents they'd faced before.

Most notably, previously ranked No. 2 BYU was upset at UCF, making Notre Dame's loss a week ago look significantly worse.

But there was good, too, with nothing more helpful for Notre Dame than Wisconsin upsetting previously No. 16 USC, 24-7 in Madison.

Notre Dame Falls in AP Poll

The new AP Poll came out Sunday and despite not playing this week, Notre Dame dropped one spot to No. 5.

The Fighting Irish were passed by both Indiana and Georgia, while passing BYU itself.

The full top 25 goes as follows:

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

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thoughts on Updated Rankings

I get that BYU has a worse loss than Notre Dame, but Notre Dame has one ranked win to date, beating the team that snuck into this week's rankings at No. 25, Wisconsin.

The Notre Dame schedule looks more difficult than originally assumed as four Notre Dame opponents now show up in the top 25. That's great for the future, but in terms of the now, Notre Dame has played just two of those four teams and managed to go 1-1 against them.

If I were a BYU fan I would be rather ticked about how Notre Dame isn't just ranked above the Cougars, but a full four spots despite BYU having the head-to-head victory.

And this has pretty much nothing to do with Notre Dame, but how on God's green earth does Texas move back up to No. 11? It has the win over Ohio State which is fantastic, sure, but it has losses to unranked Oklahoma and a Florida team that was unranked a week ago, when it beat Texas in Austin.

The good news for all is that this will all be resolved in a few short weeks when the College Football Playoff committee comes out with their initial rankings.

The bad news is that in a few short weeks we'll get the initial rankings from the College Football Playoff committee, and as we learned last December, absolutely nothing that they say early on actually matters by the time the first weekend in December comes around.