Notre Dame Falls To No. 4 In The Polls
Notre Dame dropped to No. 4 in both the Associated Press and USA TODAY Coaches Polls, despite a convincing 45-3 victory at Pittsburgh.
The Fighting Irish were jumped by Ohio State, who kicked off their 2020 season with a 52-17 victory over Nebraska. Many pollsters did not have the Buckeyes ranked due to the Big Ten's decision to initially not play, and then ultimately to start this weekend. Now that the Buckeyes have played, they expectedly jumped up in the rankings.
Notre Dame wasn't the only ACC team to be impacted by the return of the Big Ten. North Carolina fell a spot to No. 15 in the AP poll despite its own convincing victory, a 48-21 thumping of 23rd-ranked NC State. The Wolfpack dropped out after the loss.
Clemson remains ranked No. 1 in both polls. If Notre Dame gets back 2-3 Georgia Tech next weekend it will set up a matchup of top five teams. Notre Dame has not had a home game between a pair of Top 5 teams since the 5th-ranked Fighting Irish hosted the 4th-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes on Sept. 28, 1996.
No other Fighting Irish opponents are in the Top 25, although Boston College ranked 34th in the Coaches Poll and 41st in the AP Poll. That will likely change this weekend when they travel to Clemson, which means the Irish will have just two more shots at a ranked opponent in 2020.
I also have Notre Dame ranked 4th in my latest Top 25 ranking, which you can read HERE.
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