Skip to main content
Notre Dame

What they’re saying about Notre Dame being No. 10 in first College Football Playoff ranking

Singer headshotby: Mike Singer6 hours agoMikeTSinger

The College Football Playoff committee unveiled its initial top 25 rankings on Tuesday evening, and although there will be many changes between now and selection day on Dec. 7, it does say a lot about how teams are viewed and their likelihood of making the field.

Not only would No. 10 Notre Dame be in the field if the tournament started today, it seems likely that the Irish could end up hosting a game, with the 8-9 game being a strong possibility.

Immediately after the ranking became public, Blue & Gold went live on YouTube to react to it. Watch Mike Singer, Eric Hansen, Robby Toma and Tyler Horka in the video player above.

What is the media saying about Notre Dame’s ranking? Blue & Gold takes a look.

Tyler Horka, Blue & Gold: Five takeaways from Notre Dame’s first College Football Playoff rankings placement

How many people had Notre Dame in a College Football Playoff spot on Sept. 14, the day after the Fighting Irish fell to 0-2 to start the 2025 season, when the first CFP rankings were to be revealed on Nov. 4? Well, it’s Nov. 4, the rankings have been revealed, and the Notre Dame is in the current field.

A lot can happen in just under two months.

Here are five takeaways from the first set of CFP rankings, which can be found here.

Notre Dame is the top-ranked two loss team; that matters

As it stands, the committee doesn’t think there are any other teams that have lost two games that are better than Notre Dame. There is a lot to be said for that.

First off, it has indeed helped the Irish how closely they played Miami and Texas A&M. Only losing by a combined four points has turned out to matter. If Miami beat Notre Dame by a touchdown and Texas A&M did the same, we might be talking about Texas and Oklahoma being ranked ahead of the Irish.

No loss is a good loss. But some losses are better than others.

Continue reading here

Ari Wasserman, On3: Notre Dame’s No. 10 College Football Playoff ranking shows this committee is leaning more on feelings than data

The College Football Playoff Committee is supposed to be the rational group, the room full of people who watch the games, interpret the meaning of the results and dive deeper into raw data than any reporter or fan could conceive. Watching football — and ranking teams — is their chief responsibility in life.

That’s why the CFP Rankings and the Associated Press Poll are usually different. The rankings aren’t shaped by feelings or hypothetical future matchups. Their deliberations don’t look like social media debates on X. It’s just data. And the rankings reflect that data.

Which is why Notre Dame checking in at No. 10 may be the most misplaced ranking I’ve seen in the initial CFP Poll in the decade-plus they’ve been using this system.

The Irish, who began the year with consecutive losses to Texas A&M and Miami, have won six games in a row. Quarterback CJ Carr is turning into a real weapon, and running back Jeremiyah Love is one of the best overall players in college football. Anyone with eyes can see this team is very good, one that could make a run into January for the second consecutive year.

But Notre Dame is ranked ahead of No. 11 Texas, No. 12 Oklahoma and No. 18 Miami, all of whom have the same number of losses and more quality wins. Miami, of course, beat the Irish in the season opener with the entire country watching.

It seems like feeling ruled the ship in these rankings, which makes you wonder — is this year’s CFP Committee going to rank teams more like the AP Poll voters than any previous iteration of that group?

So what did the Committee see to put Notre Dame in the No. 10 slot?

Continue reading here

Nick Kosko, On3: Paul Finebaum defends Notre Dame over Texas, Oklahoma in CFP rankings

ESPN’s Paul Finebaum is fine with where Notre Dame ended up in the first set of College Football Playoff rankings. The Irish were revealed as the No. 10 team in the country and in the field.

As far as the first two teams out, they were Texas and Oklahoma. So Finebaum, a little tongue in cheek, said he was going against the brand by defending Notre Dame’s ranking above those two teams.

They all have two losses., with Notre Dame’s coming in the first two weeks against Miami and Texas A&M, the No. 18 and 3 teams last night. But Finebaum said Notre Dame has their own path while Texas and Oklahoma can make up some serious ground in the coming weeks.

“I am (good with where they are) and going back to that (Texas) A&M game that we referenced early in the season, that’s a significant game for them,” Finebaum said on Get Up. “I know they lost, but it was down to the final play in the game at South Bend, but that should bolster them a little bit. And I know I’m going against the brand here, arguing Notre Dame perhaps against Texas and Oklahoma, but Texas and Oklahoma both have monster games on the same day. 

“Texas is at Georgia, Oklahoma is at Alabama, and then they will play each other on the final Saturday. So they both need to grab a win somewhere on the road that would really help their chances immensely.”

Continue reading here

Nick Schultz, On3: Rece Davis considers Notre Dame a Top-5 team based on ‘eye test’ after first College Football Playoff rankings

In Thursday’s first College Football Playoff rankings reveal, Notre Dame came in as the No. 10 team. However, ESPN’s Rece Davis thinks the Fighting Irish could be even higher.

Davis argued, based on what he’s seen, Notre Dame should be a top-five team in the country. The Fighting Irish would be the last team in the 12-team bracket – Virginia and Memphis got bids as projected conference champions – as of Tuesday night.

But Davis said he’s all-in on Marcus Freeman’s group. He thinks the “eye test” says enough for him to consider Notre Dame a top-5 team.

“You go eye test? I’m still saying they’re top five,” Davis said on ESPN toward the end of Tuesday’s rankings reveal show. “I believe in the Irish. I’m just gonna die on the hill.”

Continue reading here

College Football Playoff Selection Committee chair and Baylor athletics director Mack Rhoades on Notre Dame

“I think it starts with two losses, total of 4 points against two very, very good teams,” Rhoades said. “One of them [Texas A&M] ranked third in the country and one [Miami] ranked 18th. We talked about, I think early on defensively, maybe they weren’t as good as what we thought they would be but certainly most recent, it seems like they’ve been much, much better defensively.

“Six straight wins. You look at their backfield, Jadarian Price, Jeremiyah Love. Probably the best backfield in the country when you think about one-two punch. Going into the Southern Cal game, they lost their starting center for the year and they were able to overcome that and run for a bunch of yards again against Southern Cal.

“When we look at the tape, we think Notre Dame’s a really solid football team, both sides of the ball.”

Rhoades also spoke on why the Irish ranked above Miami.

“I think back to Notre Dame, the committee felt strongly that that is a team that when you look at Week 1 to now, a team that has improved, has gotten better, particularly when we think about defensively,” Rhoades said. “I talked about the running game, and what I didn’t talk about is the quarterback play of [CJ] Carr. As a freshman, he’s just been really, really good, throws a great deep ball and has been really consistent for them at that spot.”

Social media reaction