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Notre Dame ties highest College Football Playoff ranking of Marcus Freeman era

IMG_9992by:Tyler Horka•10/31/23•

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Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman and quarterback Sam Hartman sing the school's alma mater. (Photo by Chad Weaver)

When the inaugural College Football Playoff rankings of 2022 came out around this time last year, Notre Dame was not in them. The Fighting Irish were 5-3 and just a couple weeks removed from a loss to a Stanford team that went on to finish with a 3-9 record.

This year, the situation is different.

Notre Dame is 7-2, and those two defeats came to unbeaten Ohio State and one-loss Louisville. As a result, the Irish tied the highest CFP ranking of the two-year Marcus Freeman era. His team came in at No. 15 in the first set of 2023 CFP rankings when they were announced Tuesday night.

The Irish rose as high as No. 15 in the CFP rankings in 2022. That was when they were 8-3 with five consecutive wins over UNLV, No. 16 Syracuse, No. 4 Clemson, Navy and Boston College. A regular season finale loss to USC dropped the Irish to No. 21 ahead of bowl season.

This year’s Notre Dame team has a really good shot at finishing in the top 10 come postseason time. If the Irish win out against a trio of teams with a combined record of 10-14, then they’ll end the regular season with a record of 10-2. Last year, the pre-conference championship week CFP rankings featured five teams with at least two losses in the top 10. When the Coaches Poll and Associated Press Poll dropped this past Sunday, Notre Dame was highest-ranked two-loss team in both sets of rankings.

The Irish are just ahead of former Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly‘s LSU Tigers in that regard. They’re just behind the No. 14 Tigers in the CFP rankings, meanwhile. It’s not farfetched to imagine those two facing off in the Peach Bowl. A New Year’s Six clash between Kelly and his former team would draw plenty of eyeballs on Dec. 30.

Notre Dame isn’t playing for the right to match up against Kelly, though. The Irish are simply playing for 10 wins and a date with whoever comes their way in a New Year’s Six bowl. After an 8-4 finish last year and a tough stretch of games in the middle of this season, a trip to Atlanta wouldn’t be so bad.

Week 10 College Football Playoff Rankings

  1. Ohio State (8-0)
  2. Georgia (8-0)
  3. Michigan (8-0)
  4. Florida State (8-0)
  5. Washington (8-0)
  6. Oregon (7-1)
  7. Texas (7-1)
  8. Alabama (7-1)
  9. Oklahoma (7-1)
  10. Ole Miss (7-1)
  11. Penn State (7-1)
  12. Missouri (7-1)
  13. Louisville (7-1)
  14. LSU (6-2)
  15. Notre Dame (7-2)
  16. Oregon State (6-2)
  17. Tennessee (6-2)
  18. Utah (6-2)
  19. UCLA (6-2)
  20. USC (7-2)
  21. Kansas (6-2)
  22. Oklahoma State (6-2)
  23. Kansas State (6-2)
  24. Tulane (7-1)
  25. Air Force (8-0)

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