Notre Dame loses veteran wide receiver to injury

Notre Dame and coach Brian Kelly will be without veteran wide receiver Avery Davis for the remainder of the season as he suffered a torn ACL in Saturday’s game against Navy, according to a tweet posted by Pete Sampson of The Athletic.

Davis – a 5-foot-11, 202-pound receiver out of Cedar Hill, Texas – went down with a left knee injury in the Fighting Irish’s 34-6 win over Navy. He had made two receptions for 18 yards prior to suffering his injury.

A former four-star prospect out of the Class of 2017, Davis was having a solid season for Notre Dame with 27 catches for 386 yards and four touchdowns. Over four seasons in South Bend, Davis has tallied 66 catches for 862 yards and eight touchdowns in 40 total games.

Davis’ injury leaves the Irish with three primary targets in the passing game – receivers Kevin Austin (531 yards, five touchdowns) and Kyren Williams (293 yards, three touchdowns) and tight end Michael Mayer (493 yards, three touchdowns).

No. 10 ranked Notre Dame, which is now 8-1 on the season with four straight wins, plays at Virginia on Saturday night.

Brian Kelly weighs in on Notre Dame’s ranking in College Football Playoff debut

The release of the first College Football Playoff ranking of the season last Tuesday night caught the attention of many – and caught quite a few people by surprise. Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly met with reporters last 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 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 three 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.”