Nov. 05--After a 49-39 victory over Navy that caused Notre Dame to drop in the human polls, the Irish held steady at No. 10 in the College Football Playoff rankings.
Most significant for the Irish was that their opponent this week, Arizona State, vaulted from No. 14 to No. 9. Arizona State picked up a quality win over No. 17 Utah, who did not drop after losing to the Sun Devils. This week will be Notre Dame's best chance to impress the committee and could gain significant ground in the top 10.
One of the most curious rankings this week was Ole Miss, who lost to Auburn last week. Where would the committee rank a two-loss SEC team? Not quite behind all the one-loss power 5 teams. Ole Miss dropped to No. 11.
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly got passionate during his Tuesday news conference defending Notre Dame and its scheduling practices in the face of critics who say the Irish lack the schedule strength of others fighting for a playoff spot. Kelly said Notre Dame doesn't schedule "glorified byes" like other schools do and that Notre Dame's 12-game slate is as rigorous as any in the country.
"In 2012 I think we started the season with the No. 1 schedule in the country. I think we started that way this year, too," Kelly said. "That's all we can do. We go into this putting together the toughest schedule in the country, right? Nobody else does it that way. They put on teams that are clearly glorified byes.
"We don't operate that way. That to me is strength of schedule in terms of the way we put it together. If it's not evaluated that way, there's nothing I can do about it."
Here are the full rankings:
1. Mississippi State
2. Florida State
3. Auburn
4. Oregon
5. Alabama
6. TCU
7. Kansas State
8. Michigan State
9. Arizona State
10. Notre Dame
11. Ole miss
12. Baylor
13. Nebraska
14. Ohio State
15. Oklahoma
16. LSU
17. Utah
18. UCLA
19. Arizona
20. Georgia
21. Clemson
22. Duke
23. West Virginia
24. Georgia Tech
25. Wisconsin
