Following a dominating 37-15 win on the road against Pitt, Notre Dame comes in at No. 9 in the latest round of CFP rankings.
The Irish have stayed at the 9 position after the ranked-road win, meaning that it may be hard for them to climb much higher.
In all likelihood the Irish won’t have the ability to make any further noise in the rankings by their own accord. With two three-win opponents remaining on the schedule, it will be tough for them to bolster their resume, no matter how convincing the outcome.
Oklahoma, coming off a massive road win in Alabama, slots in at No. 8, meaning if the playoffs started today, Notre Dame would be on the road against the Sooners.
The win against No. 15 USC could continue to help bolster the resume of the Irish if it can win against Oregon this weekend. A Trojan win would also, in all likelihood, push Notre Dame into the Top 8 and hosting in the First Round.
No. 13 Miami also continues to climb up the rankings which could make it interesting if the selection committee truly considers the Hurricanes Week 1 head-to-head win over Notre Dame to be valuable. At this point, Miami can only get into the playoffs as an at-large team.
“We haven’t really compared those two teams,” CFP Committe Chair Hunter Yurachek said. “If Notre Dame and Miami are on a comparable tier, the head-to-head would be a significant data point.”
Notre Dame could still move up, or down, depending on how teams ahead of it fares in the last two weeks of games as well as conference championship weekend.
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