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Notre Dame

Where Notre Dame football ranks in Week 13 College Football Playoff rankings

IMG_9992by: Tyler Horka11/22/23tbhorka
field goal
Notre Dame returns a blocked field goal vs. Wake Forest. (Photo by Chad Weaver)

Even in a 12-team playoff format, these pre-rivalry week College Football Playoff rankings wouldn’t mean a whole lot to Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have three losses and are a pretty far way off from cracking the top 12.

Tuesday, Notre Dame (8-3) came in at No. 18 in the CFP rankings. That’s one spot up from last week’s ranking.

The Fighting Irish finish the regular season at Stanford (3-8) on Saturday. The Cardinal went 3-9 last season with a win over the Irish in October. Notre Dame is looking to avenge that defeat and finish with one more regular season win than head coach Marcus Freeman earned in his first season in charge last fall.

It’d be interesting to see where the Irish would have slotted in if they were a two-loss team. A win over No. 10 Louisville (10-1) or No. 24 Clemson (7-4) would have went a long way. There is a log jam of those in the rankings with Missouri, Penn State, Ole Miss and Oklahoma.

It’s not just the three losses hurting Notre Dame, though. The Irish’s most marquee win turned out to be a bit of a dud in hindsight. USC lost five of its last six games after a 6-0 start to finish with a 7-5 record. The Irish started the Trojans’ downward spiral with a 48-20 victory in South Bend on Oct. 14.

No. 22 NC State (8-3) is by far the best team Notre Dame has defeated outside of USC. The Irish took down the Wolfpack, 45-24, on the road in Raleigh on Sept. 9. The Duke game three weeks later gets a lot of fanfare for the Irish’s late-game heroics and for beating a previously undefeated Blue Devils team, but that squad has since dropped four more matchups to drop to 6-5.

Notre Dame played four teams in the current rankings (No. 2 Ohio State, No. 10 Louisville, No. 22 NC State and No. 24 Clemson) and only mustered a 1-3 record in those games. That’s a record that must improve in 2024.

Week 13 CFP rankings

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