See where Notre Dame football projects to open this year's College Football Playoff
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SOUTH BEND —Notre Dame football remained on the cusp of a first-round home game when the latest College Football Playoff rankings were released Tuesday night.
Riding an eight-game winning steak after a 37-15 road blowout of Pittsburgh, the Irish (8-2) checked in at No. 9 in the third set of weekly rankings. That puts a ninth-seeded Notre Dame on track for a projected first-round trip to face eighth-seeded Oklahoma.
Oklahoma (8-2), which knocked off SEC rival Alabama on the road, jumped ahead of the Irish. Alabama, also 8-2, fell six spots to No. 10.
As was the case in Sunday’s coaches and media polls, Notre Dame is no longer the highest-ranked two-loss team in the land.
This was the first CFP rankings reveal since Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek took over as chairman for Baylor AD Mack Rhoades, who stepped aside after taking a leave of absence from his primary job.
Utah AD Mark Harlan was added as the 12th voting member this year. The selection committee usually includes 13 voices, but Pro Football Hall of Famer Randall McDaniel, a former Arizona State offensive lineman, took a one-year hiatus in October.
Senior Day against Syracuse (3-7) marks the final guaranteed home game of the 2025 season for coach Marcus Freeman and Co. Notre Dame closes things out with Nov. 29 trip to Stanford, also 3-7.
USC moved up two spots to No. 15 in this week’s CFP rankings. The Trojans, who play at No. 7 Oregon this week, remain one of two ranked wins for Notre Dame so far.
Pitt, which dropped this week from No. 22 to unranked, is the other.
Miami (8-2) has now climbed from No. 18 to No. 13 over the past two weeks. The Hurricanes nipped Notre Dame in the season opener, 27-24, and handled N.C. State 41-7 over the weekend.
That was a slightly wider margin than Notre Dame’s Oct. 11 win over the Wolfpack, but Miami advocates have pointed out the disparity in the two halftime scores. While Notre Dame led just 10-7 against N.C. State after two quarters, Miami was up 24-0.
The Irish were tied until Noah Burnette’s 48-yard field goal with three seconds left in the first half.
Notre Dame is up to No. 5 in ESPN’s SP+ metric, which purports to be a “tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency.” By that measure the Irish rank ninth in offensive efficiency, 13th in defensive efficiency and 65th on special teams.
Before stepping down, Rhoades said the committee viewed “Notre Dame as a complete team.”
Miami is 10th this week in SP+. The Hurricanes finish out their regular season with trips to Virginia Tech (3-7) and Pittsburgh (7-3).
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Where Notre Dame football landed in latest College Football Playoff rankings
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