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For the first time since 2022, Notre Dame and head coach Marcus Freeman shut out an opponent inside of Notre Dame Stadium leading them to be ranked No. 3 in the country by the Associated Press. The Irish hosted the now 1-1 Rice Owls in their home opener and dominated them from start to finish. Notre Dame's defense kept Rice out of the end zone for the entire contest and didn't allow the Owl's offense to cross the 50-yard line until their final offensive possession of the game that ended in a fumble recover by freshman Rodney Dunham. 

Notre Dame's offense lit it up through the air throwing for 360 yards and four touchdowns as a team. Junior quarterback CJ Carr completed 16 of his 20 passes for 253 yards and four scores. The depth on both sides of the ball was on full display and the Irish handed the Owls their biggest margin of defeat since their season opener in 2022 against USC (66-14). 

This was an absolutely dominant win for the Irish. Is it going to make a lasting impression on the College Football Playoff Committee in November? No, but it's a major step in the right direction for Freeman who needed to keep his team and program focused on the main goal of the 2026 season. We've seen the Irish drop games like this in year's past, and now they were able to conquer an inferior opponent at home in September the way a premier program should. 

There was a lot of movement in this week's Associated Press Top 25 rankings. The Ohio State Buckeyes dropped their road opener to the Texas Longhorns 24-23 bumping the Longhorns up to No. 1 in the country and the Buckeyes dropping to No. 6 in the country. After dropping four spots last week after narrowly beating Boise State, the Oregon Ducks dropped all the way down to No. 21 in the country after dropping their road opener to unranked Oklahoma State 39-31. 

The Oklahoma Sooners are now ranked No. 24 in the country after losing to Michigan in the Big House 17-10 which bumps the Wolverines back up to No. 19 in the AP Top 25. Washington struggled with Utah State at home 16-14 which dropped them out of the Top 25 but they received the most amount of votes of teams outside of the rankings while Alabama's 45-17 victory over the unranked Kentucky Wildcats move them up to No. 10 in the nation. 

ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25

1. Texas Longhorns (2-0)
2. Georgia Bulldogs (2-0)
3. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2-0)
4. Indiana Hoosiers (2-0)
5. Miami Hurricanes (2-0)
6. Ohio State Buckeyes (1-1)
7. LSU Tigers (2-0)
8. Ole Miss Rebels (2-0)
9. Texas A&M Aggies (2-0)
10. Alabama Crimson Tide (2-0)
11. BYU Cougars (2-0)
12. USC Trojans (2-0) 
13. Texas Tech Red Raiders (2-0)
14. Penn State Nittany Lions (2-0) 
15. Tennessee Volunteers (2-0)
16. SMU Mustangs (2-0)
17. Utah Utes (2-0)
18. Iowa Hawkeyes (2-0)
19. Michigan Wolverines (2-0)
20. Missouri Tigers (2-0) 
21. Oregon Ducks (1-1)
22. Houston Cougars (2-0) 
23. Louisville Cardinals (2-0)  
24. Oklahoma Sooners (1-1) 
25. Virginia Cavaliers (2-0) 

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