Notre Dame Debuts at No. 11 in Initial College Football Playoff Rankings
The College Football Playoff Committee has made its initial rankings for the 2026 season.
While the AP Poll has Notre Dame at No. 4 after beating Navy 35-13 in Boston, the CFP committee has them ranked at No. 11
If the season ended right now the Irish would travel to Lexington to face former Irish quarterback Kenny Minchey and the No. 7 Kentucky Wildcats
The winner of that game would advance to face undefeated No. 3 Utah.
To say that the committee made a statement with its initial rankings for the season would be an understatement.
Trying to figure out what this committee values or what kind of thought process went into these rankings is like trying to find the world’s smallest needle in the world’s largest haystack.
CFP chairman Hunter Yurachek, who is also the athletic director at Arkansas, was quick to clarify why the Irish were ranked no. 11.
“Notre Dame, obviously ranked 11th is impressive,” explained Yurachek. “The committee's impressed by their performance on both sides of the ball. They are a very good football team. But when you look at Notre Dame's schedule and the wins that they have versus the teams that are ahead of them, they don't have that signature win right now. They lost in their only Top 25 matchup at BYU.
“The next best win is on a neutral site against Wisconsin. They've got a great opportunity in front of them this weekend at home versus Miami to get that signature win that I think they need to move up in the rankings. But the committee's very impressed by them. They wouldn't be 11th if we were not.”
The committee was so impressed by Notre Dame that they ranked them eight spots lower than neighbor Indiana who was ranked No. 3.
Surely the defending champs have a far more impressive resume than the Irish to make the eight-spot difference make sense.
In their last four games, the Hoosiers have beaten unranked Nebraska in Lincoln by three, lost at home to Ohio State by four and beat unranked Michigan and Minnesota in overtime, in which it benched its starting quarterback.
Indiana’s signature win at this point in the season would be a six-point win against a Northwestern team that was ranked (in the AP Poll) before losing to a three-loss Oregon team this past weekend.
How is that any more impressive than Notre Dame’s win in a neutral-site game against Wisconsin, which Yurachek highlighted as Notre Dame’s signature win to this point?
Both teams have played exactly one ranked team to this point in the season and both teams lost close games on the last play of the game.
When comparing the Irish’s one loss to the Hoosiers’ one loss, Ohio State is ranked No. 12 by the committee while BYU is ranked No. 9 by the committee.
Does that mean that Notre Dame has a better loss than Indiana yet is ranked eight spots lower?
What has led to the eight-spot discrepancy between the teams inhabiting the Hoosier state?
What clarity these rankings did give for the Irish is that this weekend is likely the determination between making the playoff or missing it narrowly like a year ago.
It’s win or go home and Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman wants his team to use it as they prepare to welcome No. 1 Miami to town this weekend.
"Use it,” said Freeman. “Don't tell them, don't pay attention to it. Who cares? Like, that's what everybody's going to say, right? Like, don't know. It doesn't matter. Use it. Use it to remember to get back into the moment. The minute you start thinking about the playoff rankings, and you hear, or you look on your phone, and somebody tells you where you rank, use it as a reminder to win this moment.
"I don't want to lose it. Let's use it. And so we're going to use that as a reminder. At some point, it's Tuesday, I guess, so Tuesday after practice, I'll tell them, hey, tonight the playoff rankings come out. If you read it or hear about it, use it as a reminder to go to bed early."
Want the latest scoop on Notre Dame Football and Recruiting? Become an ISD Premium Subscriber and never miss the inside information. Sign Up for ISD
