Why is Notre Dame ranked so high?

[BigDofBA]

Their best wins are Temple, Navy, and a USC team that won't be ranked next week. So two mid-majors and a team that was in complete disarray with an alcoholic coach earlier in the year....

They were lucky to beat Virginia in the final two minutes.
They were lucky to beat Temple in the final two minutes.
They barely beat BC.

What has this team done to be "solidly" ranked #4 in the country? Do we load up on Stanford?

[jtoler]

Name.

[navyblue81]

1) Navy is a very good team. Don't rip my boys. They might crack top 10 very soon.

2) Their only loss was to the number one team in country on the road in which they lost by 2 and outplayed them.

3) Eye test: if you've watched ND all year, they've looked very solid and have top-5 talent. Injuries are starting to slow them down, though. They played very sloppy tonight against a good defense and prolly got caught looking ahead, but their body of work through the year is impressive.

Who else you going to put over them? Oklahoma?? Lol they lost to Texas who Notre Dame demolished. NDs SOS is higher than the other one-loss teams you're talking about, too.

That being said, I think ND will lose at Stanfors next week. Losing Procise is a huge loss that I don't think they can overcome. They also lost their best DB tonight.

[BigDofBA]

1) Navy is a very good team. Don't rip my boys. They might crack top 10 very soon.

2) Their only loss was to the number one team in country on the road in which they lost by 2 and outplayed them.

3) Eye test: if you've watched ND all year, they've looked very solid and have top-5 talent. Injuries are starting to slow them down, though. They played very sloppy tonight against a good defense, but their body of work through the year is impressive.

Who else you going to put over them? Oklahoma?? Lol they lost to Texas who Notre Dame demolished.

That being said, I think ND will lose at Stanfors next week. Losing Procise is a huge loss that I don't think they can overcome. They also lost their best DB tonight.

Navy is a good team and Notre Dame's best win. In another thread I said Navy would destroy Tulsa tonight and they did. Anyway...

I would put Michigan State over both OU and Notre Dame. State has beaten Michigan and Ohio State on the road and they have also beaten Oregon.

The best thing Notre Dame has done this year was a game they lost. What do we put more stock in? Who you beat or who you lose too?

I give more credit for who you beat.

[navyblue81]

Navy is a good team and Notre Dame's best win.

I would put Michigan State over both OU and Notre Dame. State has beaten Michigan and Ohio State on the road and they have beaten Oregon.

The best thing Notre Dame has done this year was a game they lost. What do we put more stock in? Who you beat or who you lose too?

But Michigan State lost to Nebraska and Nebraska is horrible. Who you lose to does carry merit and It was a loss in November. Also that win at Michigan was a fluke. You know it and I know it.

That being said, Michigan State or Iowa is going to get in if they win out and get the 3 seed. ND still gets in top 4 with win next week because they will be put in over OU whose resume isn't any better than ND. ND does have a good SOS number.

[BigDofBA]

But Michigan State lost to Nebraska and Nebraska is horrible. Who you lose to does carry merit and It was a loss in November. Also that win at Michigan was a fluke. You know it and I know it.

That being said, Michigan State or Iowa is going to get in if they win out and get the 3 seed. ND still gets in top 4 with win next week because they will be put in over OU whose resume isn't any better than ND. ND does have a good SOS number.

OU has better wins.

Beating a top 10 Baylor team on the road trumps beating a top 15 Navy team at home.

Winning at Tennessee is better than winning at Temple

The only thing Notre Dame has on OU is that Notre dame has a better loss. As for Michigan State, the win at Michigan was a fluke but they still won and their wins are much better than anything Notre Dame has done.

Oregon, Ohio State, Michigan vs Navy, Temple, USC?????

It's really not even a question. I think you should get rewarded more for beating good teams than losing to good teams.

[jtoler]

But Michigan State lost to Nebraska and Nebraska is horrible. Who you lose to does carry merit and It was a loss in November. Also that win at Michigan was a fluke. You know it and I know it.

That being said, Michigan State or Iowa is going to get in if they win out and get the 3 seed. ND still gets in top 4 with win next week because they will be put in over OU whose resume isn't any better than ND. ND does have a good SOS number.

I remember you and I last year I think having the back and forth over a LB being injured for ND and talking about Navy, anyway, how Michigan State lost was a fluke also, a ref screw job. I can see the committee screwing Iowa just like it did TCU last year, simply because they know nobody wants to see Iowa in the playoffs. If Iowa loses the Big Ten championship then they will make that their reason to knock them out.

[navyblue81]

OU has better wins.

Beating a top 10 Baylor team on the road trumps beating a top 15 Navy team at home.

Winning at Tennessee is better than winning at Temple

The only thing Notre Dame has on OU is that Notre dame has a better loss. The Michigan State win at Michigan was a fluke but they still won and their wins are much better than anything Notre Dame has done.

Oregon, Ohio State, Michigan vs Navy, Temple, USC?????

It's really not even a question. I think you should get rewarded more for beating good teams than losing to good teams.

But if you're going to compare Notre Dame to Oklahoma, don't you think you'd look at common opponents?? That's the #1 thing most people look at when comparing teams schedules. And guess what? They have one common opponent: Notre Dame destroyed Texas and OU lost to them. You can make all the schedule comparisons you want, but the bottom line is when it comes down to choosing two teams whose SOS are both pretty close when you look at the numbers, common opponents play a factor.

You want to complain about OU being ranked behind Notre Dame? Then you should have taken care of business against Texas. END OF STORY.

I can see the case for Michigan State being ranked ahead of ND if they win the rest of the games, but not Oklahoma. Not to mention the Big 12 is really not that great. I think outside of Baylor and Oklahoma, the Big 12 sucks, and that includes TCU. Oklahoma State got the pounding they deserved tonight. They've been a fraud all year barely beating weak ass teams.

[BigDofBA]

But if you're going to compare Notre Dame to Oklahoma, don't you think you'd look at common opponents?? That's the #1 thing most people look at when comparing teams schedules. And guess what? They have one common opponent: Notre Dame destroyed Texas and OU lost to them. You can make all the schedule comparisons you want, but the bottom line is when it comes down to choosing two teams whose SOS are both pretty close when you look at the numbers, common opponents play a factor.

You want to complain about OU being ranked behind Notre Dame? Then you should have taken care of business against Texas. END OF STORY.

I can see the case for Michigan State being ranked ahead of ND if they win the rest of the games, but not Oklahoma. Not to mention the Big 12 is really not that great. I think outside of Baylor and Oklahoma, the Big 12 sucks, and that includes TCU. Oklahoma State got the pounding they deserved tonight. They've been a fraud all year barely beating weak ass teams.

This isn't personal, but your line of thinking is the main problem with letting people pick and choose who they want to play for the national title. College football is the only sport like that. It's like figure skating.

So Notre Dame is better than OU because Notre Dame blew out Texas and OU lost to Texas?

Iowa State beat Texas 24-0 and OU beat Iowa State 52-16
West Virgina beat Texas 38-20 and OU beat West Virginia 44-24
TCU beat Texas 50-7 and OU beat TCU.

I'm sure Baylor will beat Texas by about 40 points too and OU beat Baylor at their place. Do you get my point yet? Each game takes on a different personality and teams get better and improve as the year goes on. That's why betting spreads fluctuate so much throughout the year.

Also, OU's schedule is stronger than you think. Check out this link: http://espn.go.com/college-football/...cs/teamratings. OU is #1.

Notre Dame has squeaked by a lot of bad teams and has only beaten one ranked team....two if Temple jumps back in this week. I think a resume should be about what "you have done" not what you "almost did".

[Eddy Munny]

Navy might be the most underrated team in the nation. They have been playing some stellar football lately.

[BigDofBA]

Navy might be the most underrated team in the nation. They have been playing some stellar football lately.

Who has Navy beaten?

I think they're good but they've only beaten one good team.

[Eddy Munny]

Who has Navy beaten?

Everyone on their schedule, save one. That's really all you can do, is play the teams on your schedule. I'm not lobbying for them to be a playoff contender or anything, I'm just saying they're underrated. There's something to be said for handling inferior competition and routinely making them look inferior, and that's what they've done. Hell, Air Force just won at Boise State. South Florida has made mincemeat of Temple and Cincy. Navy beat them both. They also beat Memphis before it became trendy... the same Memphis team that knocked off Ole Miss.

[BigDofBA]

Everyone on their schedule, save one. That's really all you can do, is play the teams on your schedule. I'm not lobbying for them to be a playoff contender or anything, I'm just saying they're underrated. There's something to be said for handling inferior competition and routinely making them look inferior, and that's what they've done. Hell, Air Force just won at Boise State. South Florida has made mincemeat of Temple and Cincy. Navy beat them both. They also beat Memphis before it became trendy... the same Memphis team that knocked off Ole Miss.

Navy will be ranked in the top 15 this week. That sounds about right for them. I think they're good too.

[navyblue81]

This isn't personal, but your line of thinking is the main problem with letting people pick and choose who they want to play for the national title. College football is the only sport like that. It's like figure skating.

So Notre Dame is better than OU because Notre Dame blew out Texas and OU lost to Texas?

Iowa State beat Texas 24-0 and OU beat Iowa State 52-16
West Virgina beat Texas 38-20 and OU beat West Virginia 44-24
TCU beat Texas 50-7 and OU beat TCU.

I'm sure Baylor will beat Texas by about 40 points too and OU beat Baylor at their place. Do you get my point yet? Each game takes on a different personality and teams get better and improve as the year goes on. That's why betting spreads fluctuate so much throughout the year.

Also, OU's schedule is stronger than you think. Check out this link: http://espn.go.com/college-football/...cs/teamratings. OU is #1.

Notre Dame has squeaked by a lot of bad teams and has only beaten one ranked team....two if Temple jumps back in this week. I think a resume should be about what "you have done" not what you "almost did".

Not going to say they're "better" than them because the two teams haven't played and talent-wise, the two teams are pretty close, IMO. But they should be ranked higher than them, yes. I don't care what OU and Texas did against other teams, the bottom line is when you're comparing two teams that are so close and their SOS is pretty close to one another (like the link you showed which shows they're both top 10), then common opponents plays a HUGE, HUGE factor. The CFB Committee said that very thing last week on the air and they have it in their criteria as one of the biggest factors.

ND squeaked by a lot of bad teams? Huh? ND beat squeaked by ONE bad team this year: Virginia the second game of the year, which happens to be the game they were in control and then lost their starting qb. If you watched the game tonight (which I could tell you didn't), you would know that ND controlled that game and gave up a couple garbage time TDs but dominated the game. They played sloppy giving up 5 turnovers, but it's not like they were ever in danger of losing.

All this being said, in the end I don't think it's going to matter as I think ND is going to lose next week at Stanford. I think the Notre Dame injuries are starting to catch up to them and without Procise and Kevari Russell, they're now without 10 starters going to Palo Alto and that's too high of a bar to jump over.

All I know is Navy is a damned good team this year and Notre Dame spanked our ass and looked good doing it. They're a good football team and deserve their ranking. Call it the eye test if you want. They are a good team. But like I said above, I think the injuries that are piling up on them are going to bite them hard next week.

[BigDofBA]

Not going to say they're "better" than them because the two teams haven't played and talent-wise, the two teams are pretty close, IMO. But they should be ranked higher than them, yes. I don't care what OU and Texas did against other teams, the bottom line is when you're comparing two teams that are so close and their SOS is pretty close to one another (like the link you showed which shows they're both top 10), then common opponents plays a HUGE, HUGE factor. The CFB Committee said that very thing last week on the air and they have it in their criteria as one of the biggest factors.

ND squeaked by a lot of bad teams? Huh? ND beat squeaked by ONE bad team this year: Virginia the second game of the year, which happens to be the game they were in control and then lost their starting qb. If you watched the game tonight (which I could tell you didn't), you would know that ND controlled that game and gave up a couple garbage time TDs but dominated the game. They played sloppy giving up 5 turnovers, but it's not like they were ever in danger of losing.

All this being said, in the end I don't think it's going to matter as I think ND is going to lose next week at Stanford. I think the Notre Dame injuries are starting to catch up to them and without Procise and Kevari Russell, they're now without 10 starters going to Palo Alto and that's too high of a bar to jump over.

All I know is Navy is a damned good team this year and Notre Dame spanked our ass and looked good doing it. They're a good football team and deserve their ranking. Call it the eye test if you want. They are a good team. But like I said above, I think the injuries that are piling up on them are going to bite them hard next week.

I don't really disagree with much of anything you said. I just hate a system of "picking" teams to put in. You should be able to win your way in.

Also, saying "who has Notre Dame beaten" isn't me slighting Navy. Navy is a good win but that's about their only good win. I'm looking more at the body of work. Is Temple really a win to hang your hat on? USC is a decent win but is that much better than beating a team like Tennessee on the road?

Notre Dame and OU are pretty close right now for that last spot. If they both win out OU will have better wins but Notre dame will have the better loss. I think that win on the road against a top 10 Baylor team should hold some weight.

If OU gets left out it's the Big 12's fault for not having a championship game or a voice in the committee.

[navyblue81]

I don't really disagree with much of anything you said. I just hate a system of "picking" teams to put in. You should be able to win your way in.

Also, saying "who has Notre Dame beaten" isn't me slighting Navy. Navy is a good win but that's about their only good win. I'm looking more at the body of work. Is Temple really a win to hang your hat on? USC is a decent win but is that much better than beating a team like Tennessee on the road?

Notre Dame and OU are pretty close right now for that last spot. If they both win out OU will have better wins but Notre dame will have the better loss. I think that win on the road against a top 10 Baylor team should hold some weight.

If OU gets left out it's the Big 12's fault for not having a championship game or a voice in the committee.

Where OU and ND are after this week's poll ARE HUGE. ND has the tougher game next week, so assuming they win, they probably will stay ahead of OU. I actually think Michigan State and Iowa are going to move up to 3 and 4 next week. Even though Michigan State had a horrible loss, they have the quality of wins.

All this being said, next week could be chaos along with the week after. There's not one team with an easy game in the top 10. Even some of the games you think would be easy aren't going to be easy. Alabama could have a very hard time at Auburn who has looked a lot better down the stretch. Penn State is going to give Michigan State a hard time, IMO. Iowa will have issues at Nebraska. OU and ND both have difficult road games. Clemson should beat SC, but they're gonna have issues in 2 weeks at UNC (even though it's a neutral field, it will be a UNC home game in Charlotte). I would not count teams like Baylor, Stanford or even North Carolina out of the big picture.

I would like to say Navy still has a chance, but I don't think we can move up that high. But I like our chances against Houston next week.

[Aflacc]

ND is better than Georgia.