Notre Dame Football

Notre Dame No. 5 in Latest College Football Playoff Rankings

By Matt Freeman

November 26, 2024

2,560

The latest edition of the College Football Playoff Rankings was released on Tuesday night and Notre Dame is ranked No. 5 and would be the No. 7 seed.

If the playoff started today, the Irish would host No. 10 SMU and the winner would advance to play No. 2 Texas.

The noise will be relevant for Notre Dame this week as they prepare for a trip to California to face rival USC with everything on the line. There will be multiple distractions for the Irish as College Football Playoff talk will be everywhere on social media and in conversations with their family and friends.

It’s a lot, but Marcus Freeman has trained his team to handle outside distractions before the calendar flipped to November and it starts with focusing on USC.

“There’s things we’ve done intentionally to put our program in this position,” stated Freeman. “So understanding the challenge we have ahead of us on Saturday and continue to put the work in today that gives us a chance to get the outcome we want on Saturday.”

The other emphasis from Freeman has been to stay in the moment. He knows his players are young and it’s impossible not have their minds drift, but making sure his team dials back in is the key.

”All I can continue to remind myself and them is it’s human nature, every person in this room, every person watching, we all tend to drift into the future,” said Freeman. “We all tend to day dream about a future that’s uncertain. I always challenge them; it’s the thought after the thought. You start thinking about other than right now, remind yourself to get back into the moment and take care of what you have guaranteed right in front of you and that’s right now.”

And if that wasn’t enough, Freeman has made sure to keep USC on the minds of every person in The Gug as the 2022 Notre Dame-USC game is playing on every TV this week.

“Remind them of the challenge we have ahead of us on Saturday,” explained Freeman. “That’s what’s going to control the noise. If you don’t understand how good this opponent is, if you don’t understand how much of a challenge this opponent will bring on Saturday, then the fault lies within yourself.

“That’s what I’m going to continue to remind our guys. Yes, the things we’ve done in the past that have given us an opportunity to be in this moment where if we win, we’re in. That’s what they say. You win and you’re in.”

College Football Playoff Seedings | Week Two
(12) Arizona State at (5) Ohio State
(9) Tennessee at (8) Georgia
(11) Indiana at (6) Penn State
(10) SMU at (7) Notre Dame

First Round Bye
(1) Oregon
(2) Texas
(3) Miami
(4) Boise State

RANK	College Football Playoff
1	Oregon
2	Ohio State
3	Texas
4	Penn State
5	Notre Dame
6	Miami
7	Georgia
8	Tennessee
9	SMU
10	Indiana
11	Boise State
12	Clemson
13	Alabama
14	Ole Miss
15	South Carolina
16	Arizona State
17	Tulane
18	Iowa State
19	BYU
20	Texas A&M
21	Missouri
22	UNLV
23	Illinois
24	Kansas State
25	Colorado