Notre Dame, Ohio State both ranked in top 10 of Week 4 AP Poll
Saturday’s game between Notre Dame and Ohio State will officially be a top 10 matchup. The Buckeyes are ranked No. 6 in the latest Associated Press Top 25, and the Fighting Irish check in at No. 9.
Last year, the two programs met as consensus top five teams in a season-opening tilt in Columbus. The Buckeyes made good on their top-five preseason ranking, but the Irish spent much of the year outside the top 25 after an 0-2 start and a midseason loss to Stanford, an eventual 3-9 team.
This year is different.
Notre Dame is 4-0 thanks in large part to Heisman Trophy-caliber level of play from graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman. In four starts, Hartman is 64-of-90 (71.1 percent) for 265.3 passing yards per game with 13 passing touchdowns, two rushing scores and zero interceptions.
Ohio State, meanwhile, didn’t explode offensively to the level the Buckeyes have been used to in the last decade in a 23-3 win over Indiana and a 35-7 victory over Youngstown State, but OSU got back to elite offensive ways in a 63-10 rout of Western Kentucky.
The Buckeyes piled up 562 yards of offense vs. the Hilltoppers. The Irish had 578 yards of offense in a 41-17 win over Central Michigan. In a twist of fate from Ohio State being far and away better than Notre Dame offensively in last year’s meeting, the Irish might actually have the upper hand in that regard in 2023 because of Hartman. Notre Dame junior running back Audric Estimé is second nationally with 130.3 rushing yards per game, too.
Ohio State starter Kyle McCord is 53-of-76 (69.7 percent) for 271.7 yards per game with six touchdown passes and one interception in three starts this year. He’s coming off his best performance with a 19-of-23 (82.6 percent) for 318 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions outing vs. Western Kentucky.
ESPN’s College GameDay will be on site in South Bend to preview Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff on NBC. GameDay will air from Notre Dame’s campus from 9 a.m. ET to 12 p.m. ET.
Week 4 AP Top 25
- Georgia (3-0)
- Michigan (3-0)
- Texas (3-0)
- Florida State (3-0)
- USC (3-0)
- Ohio State (3-0)
- Penn State (3-0)
- Washington (3-0)
- Notre Dame (4-0)
- Oregon (3-0)
- Utah (3-0)
- LSU (2-1)
- Alabama (2-1)
- Oregon State (3-0)
- Ole Miss (3-0)
- Oklahoma (3-0)
- North Carolina (3-0)
- Duke (3-0)
- Colorado (3-0)
- Miami (3-0)
- Washington State (3-0)
- UCLA (3-0)
- Tennessee (2-1)
- Iowa (3-0)
- Florida (2-1)
