Just win.
That was the message to Notre Dame from the College Football Playoff committee last week, when the Fighting Irish checked in at No. 11 in the initial rankings.
Notre Dame's ranking became a hot topic across the country, as many believed Marcus Freeman's program deserved to be ranked much higher. However, the first week of rankings carries little weight, and the Irish had an opportunity to make their case with No. 1 Miami coming to town.
Notre Dame sent a strong message with a 31-24 win over Miami and was rewarded with a jump to No. 5 in this week's rankings.
College Football Playoff Committee chairman Hunter Yurachek explained that the committee felt Notre Dame made a statement with its win over Miami, despite the Hurricanes being without star receiver Malachi Toney.
“We talked last week on the show that Notre Dame had a lot of respect from the committee, a dominant team, a balanced team on both sides of the ball, but had yet to have that signature win,” explained Yurachek. “They had that opportunity Saturday night, and they looked like the Notre Dame team that should be ranked at number five. They were up 24-3. They were dominating that game.
“Miami kind of found their way with their offense, but then you look at what happened in front of Notre Dame with BYU losing, Ole Miss losing. It was an easy time to move them to No. 5.”
Miami dropped to No. 7 in this week's rankings, which surprised some, considering it was the Hurricanes first loss of the season.
Yurachek explained that Notre Dame and Miami were grouped together during the committee's evaluation process to determine the top six teams, but the two programs ultimately separated when the committee moved on to selecting the top four.
“I believe those two teams were in the same ranking step together when we take the top six teams and then we rank them 1-4,” said Yurachek. “Then we have two teams that will advance to the next pool. Notre Dame and Miami were indeed in that first pool together, but Miami wasn't ranked 1-4 in that pool. Neither was Notre Dame for that matter.”
Perhaps the biggest loser on Tuesday night was Indiana. The Hoosiers dropped from No. 4 to No. 9 despite being on a bye week.
If the College Football Playoff started today, Notre Dame would host Boise State in the first round, with the winner advancing to face UCLA in the quarterfinals.
https://x.com/FBSchedules/status/2120349073597485414?a=JYBe5co-k91BjGgwJe8&s=20
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