See where Notre Dame football landed in first CFP selection committee rankings
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SOUTH BEND — If the season ended today, which thankfully it doesn’t, Notre Dame football would be headed back to the 12-team College Football Playoff.
The Irish (6-2) checked in at No. 10 on Tuesday, Nov. 4, in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season. Allowing for the five highest-ranked conference champions, Notre Dame would be seeded 10th and sent to face seventh-seeded Brigham Young in a first-round game on either Dec. 19 or Dec. 20.
Notre Dame is 7-2 all-time against the Cougars, with a 28-20 win in the most recent meeting in 2022 in Las Vegas. The teams have split two meetings in Provo, Utah, with BYU winning 20-17 in 2004 and Notre Dame enjoying a 45-20 blowout in 1993, a year after the first-ever meeting between the teams.
Notre Dame would be the only two-loss team in the field at this point.
The 12-person selection committee will meet weekly through Selection Sunday on Dec. 7.
Pittsburgh (7-2) was ranked 24th ahead of a Nov. 15 home game against Notre Dame. USC, at No. 19, is the only ranked win for Notre Dame thus far.
Notre Dame’s two losses came against No. 18 Miami and No. 3 Texas A&M (8-0). The Aggies, who handed Notre Dame a one-point loss on Sept. 13, still must play a pair of road games against ranked foes Missouri and Texas.
Last year, in the inaugural 12-team playoff field, Notre Dame overcame a Week 2 loss to Northern Illinois to reach the CFP national championship game against Ohio State.
After closing out an 11-1 regular season, Notre Dame was seeded seventh and given a first-round home game with Indiana. The unbeaten Hoosiers were ranked No. 2 in this week’s CFP rankings.
First-round games will again be held at campus sites with quarterfinals and semifinals taking place at traditional bowl sites. All four first-round winners played at home, and the same quartet advanced to the CFP semifinals.
This season’s CFP title game will be on Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, where Notre Dame opened the season with a 27-24 loss to the Hurricanes (6-2).
After winning its sixth straight game with a 25-10 decision at Boston College, Notre Dame moved up to No. 10 in both the US LBM Coaches and Associated Press media polls.
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said Monday that no matter where the committee places the Irish, it won’t be a week-to-week motivational tool.
“Me using that is, I believe, wasted time,” he said. “If I sit in my office and try to come up with some way to utilize our ranking to use it as motivation, I’m wasting time that I need to be really using to prepare for this upcoming game on Saturday (against Navy).
“That’s the motivation … and that’s all we need to spend time thinking about. The minute we start thinking about College Football Playoff ranking, you’re just wasting time.”
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: See where Notre Dame football landed in first CFP committee rankings
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