Notre Dame Moves Up To No. 2 In The Polls

Notre Dame moved past Clemson and Ohio State in the latest college football rankings, as the Irish check in this week at No. 2 in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches Polls. This comes after Notre Dame’s 47-40 overtime victory over Clemson, last week’s No. 1 team.

Notre Dame received two first-place votes in the AP rankings.

It marks the highest regular season ranking for Notre Dame since the 2012 season. Notre Dame got as high as No. 4 during the 2015 season, No. 3 during the 2017 campaign and No. 3 during its undefeated regular season in 2018, but it has not been ranked higher than third since the Irish vaulted to No. 1 in the final week of the 2012 regular season.

None of Notre Dame’s next four regular season opponents are currently ranked, as North Carolina dropped out of the coaches poll despite a 56-24 road victory over Duke. Liberty (7-0), Northwestern (3-0) and Texas (5-2) jumped into the rankings.

North Carolina is ranked 26th in both polls, so if the Tar Heels beat Wake Forest next weekend it could vault them into the Top 25.

Clemson dropped to No. 4 in both rankings, setting up another Top 5 matchup should both teams win out over the next month.

I usually don't editorialize in this space, but I noticed that at least one voter in the Coaches Poll had Notre Dame ranked as low as 10th in this week's ballot. It further adds credence to the notion that voting in polls should be a privilege that can be revoked by people who are clearly not taking it seriously, or lack the judgment to be part of this process.

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