Brian Kelly weighs in on Notre Dame, Cincinnati ranking in College Football Playoff debut

The release of the first College Football Playoff ranking of the season Tuesday night caught the attention of many – and caught quite a few people by surprise. Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly met with reporters Thursday and offered his thoughts on the first ranking, which had his Fighting Irish team at No. 10.

“I think the first ranking is not something that I really lose sleep over,” Kelly said. “I think I was a little surprised, quite frankly, that we were as low as we were and that Cincinnati was as low, but nothing that I lost any sleep over because it’s the first week and there’s so much more movement that’s going to occur. So, again, nothing that I got too concerned about because there’s plenty of football left.”

Notre Dame, which is 7-1 on the season with a single loss to Cincinnati – which is undefeated at 8-0 and was ranked No. 6 in the first CFP release – was in a similar position back in 2012. After starting the season unranked, the Irish continued to work their way up in the AP Top 25 poll – going from No. 22 after Week 1 all the way to No. 1 after Week 12. That Irish squad ended up playing in the BCS National Championship game against Alabama.

“We had virtually no path and ended up playing for a championship,” Kelly recalls of the 2012 season.

With four weeks still remaining in the college football regular season, there’s bound to be plenty of shakeup to come in the CFP rankings – and Kelly will be the first to tell you that.

“I think at first I was a little surprised, but like I said, the first one is just kind of … everyone’s just kind of feeling it out and putting some names down on paper,” he said. “There’s so much more football to be played. The rankings later in the month will mean so much more.”

The Fighting Irish host Navy on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET with the broadcast on NBC.

Luke Fickell takes shot at Gary Barta after College Football Playoff ranking

Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell took a shot at Gary Barta, chairman of the College Football Playoff committee, after Cincinnati received a No. 6 ranking in the first edition of the 2021 CFP release — a decision that Barta supported after the public release.

“I would say the committee has great respect for Cincinnati,” Barta said of Fickell’s Bearcats, which, by comparison, rank No. 2 in the AP poll. “The win at Notre Dame is a really impressive win. When you look at their schedule after that – or who they played after that – who else did they beat? … Very impressive win against Notre Dame, a lot of respect, but looking at the whole picture, we feel No. 6 was the right place for Cincinnati.”

Unsurprisingly, Fickell did not take well to the Bearcats ranking, despite it being the highest a Group of Five school has received in the College Football Playoff era. Shortly after the rankings were released on ESPN, Fickell took to his radio show, where co-hosts informed him of Barta’s comments, and he responded in jest.

“Who’s the chairman?” Fickell said. “Did he play football?”

Cincinnati will try to remain unbeaten Saturday when it hosts Tulsa. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET, and ESPN2 will be carrying the broadcast.

On3’s Simon Gibbs contributed to this report.