Nov. 05--The show about nothing was something Tuesday night.
In its Season 2 debut, the unveiling of the first College Football Playoff rankings seduced plenty of eyeballs and induced plenty of conversation.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Should Alabama be in the top four? Was Notre Dame too high at No. 5? What did committee members Condoleezza Rice and former Irish coach Tyrone Willingham think about the weather?
What does it all mean?
Right now, nothing. Clemson at No. 1. The Irish the first team out. All those SEC teams. All those unbeaten teams. No. 1-in-both-polls Ohio State at No. 3. What about the Big 12 or the Pac-12?
All that should sort itself out in the next month before the final four teams are announced Dec. 6.
The Irish's giddy temporarily was up Tuesday when the rankings were revealed. And for good reason. Fifth is not a bad place to be.
"We hooted and hollered," defensive lineman Sheldon Day said.
In Day's estimation, that lasted all of 13 seconds.
Then what?
"Kind of got together and said, 'This doesn't mean anything; we have to win out and be our best in November,' " Day said.
Even that might not be enough to get the Irish into one of the semifinals in the Cotton Bowl or Orange Bowl. But it's all they can control, starting Saturday against Pittsburgh, where the game of catch-up begins at Heinz Field. And the weeks after that against Wake Forest, Boston College and Stanford, 11th in the first rankings.
That Thanksgiving weekend game in California could be a playoff play-in game. But who knows how the 12-person committee will view the games against not-so-mighty Wake and BC? Who knows who will beat whom between now and then?
Who knows whether the decision-makers will hold the Irish's independence as a blessing or a curse. They have, after all, said conference championship games can weigh heavily. Ask No. 6 Baylor and No. 8 TCU, one-loss teams last year from the defense-challenged Big 12. That conference doesn't have a championship game and was left out of the playoff while three other one-loss teams (Alabama, Oregon and Ohio State) were in.
Despite its favorable standing, Notre Dame could use a little help from some old friends and foes alike, also starting Saturday. That's when No. 16 Florida State visits Clemson, a two-point victor against the Irish in a monsoon at Death Valley.
The Irish should be rooting against the Seminoles and former Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson, assuming he plays after sitting out last week with a concussion. A Clemson victory would pretty much ensure another week at No. 1, which would ensure the strength of Notre Dame's only loss for another week.
The fan base for No. 22 Temple should now also include the Irish fan base, as should those of USC, Navy and Stanford, until the season finale.
No. 2 LSU and No. 4 Alabama also will clash Saturday. A second loss for the Crimson Tide -- who fell at home to No. 18 Ole Miss, which lost to No. 13 Memphis -- almost certainly would knock them out of final four contention.
But these rankings are fluid. Each week is a reset, so to speak.
"We understand as a team it means absolutely nothing at this point," Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer said of the rankings. "(Ohio State) last year at this time was (16th).
"It doesn't necessarily bring us to any sort of confidence level. It makes us put in our mind that we're right there in the top."
In the conversation for now, a conversation coach Brian Kelly said his team wants to be in come December. As Kelly pointed out, the postseason began for the Irish after that loss to Clemson.
"Every week is a playoff game for us," he said.
Linebacker Joe Schmidt played coy when he said Wednesday he wasn't aware the rankings were coming out Tuesday. He said it was "cool we're ranked where we are" but stressed the Irish have plenty of work to do.
"We could be ranked 5 or 55," Schmidt said. "It doesn't really matter until the last week of the year."
He couldn't be more right. Now's not the time to make something out of nothing.
pskrbina@tribpub.com
