Notre Dame earned its third straight blowout victory this weekend and the result was the Irish making a big charge up the rankings. Notre Dame moved up five spots to No. 16 in the latest Coaches Poll. The Irish made the jump after its convincing 28-7 victory over the Boise State Broncos, which improved the Irish to 3-2 on the season.
Notre Dame also benefitted from the chaos that happened around the country. Five ranked teams lost this weekend, including Penn State's 42-37 road loss to a UCLA team that entered the weekend with zero wins on the season. The Nittany Lions remain ranked at No. 22 despite not having a single Power 4 conference win six weeks into the season. The same is true for Texas, who lost 29-21 at unranked Florida this past weekend, which dropped the Longhorns to No. 19.
The puzzling aspect is that Florida State - who has the same record as both Penn State and Texas - fell completely out of the rankings despite having a convincing week one win over No. 8 Alabama. Penn State and Texas have a combined zero wins over Power 4 opponents but remain ranked, showing that even in week six the voters are still relying heavily on preseason opinions of these teams.
Notre Dame is currently one of three teams that remain ranked despite having two losses, but Notre Dame is ranked highest at No. 16. One big difference between the Irish and the other two loss teams (Texas, Penn State) is that both of Notre Dame's losses were to ranked opponents. Penn State (Oregon) and Texas (Ohio State) both lost to Top 10 teams, but their other loss was to a team that was unranked when they beat those teams, and remains unranked. Neither UCLA nor Florida currently have a winning record.
Notre Dame's two losses came at the hands of Miami (27-24) and Texas A&M (41-40), and those two teams remained unbeaten this weekend. Miami remains at No. 3 and Texas A&M remains at No. 5.
None of Notre Dame's remaining seven opponents are ranked in the Top 25, although Navy and USC received Top 25 votes.
Here is the latest Coaches Poll rankings:
1. Ohio State Buckeyes (5-0)
2. Oregon Ducks (5-0)
3. Miami Hurricanes (5-0)
4. Ole Miss Rebels (5-0)
5. Texas A&M Aggies (5-0)
6. Oklahoma Sooners (5-0)
7. Indiana Hoosiers (5-0)
8. Alabama Crimson Tide (4-1)
9. Georgia Bulldogs (4-1)
10. Texas Tech Red Raiders (5-0)
11. LSU Tigers (4-1)
12. Tennessee Volunteers (4-1)
13. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (5-0)
14. Missouri Tigers (5-0)
15. Michigan Wolverines (4-1)
16. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3-2)
17. Illinois Fighting Illini (5-1)
18. BYU Cougars (5-0)
19. Texas Longhorns (3-2)
20. Vanderbilt Commodores (5-1)
21. Iowa State Cyclones (5-1)
22. Penn State Nittany Lions (3-2)
23. Arizona State Sun Devils (4-1)
24. Virginia Cavaliers (5-1)
25. Memphis Tigers (6-0)
-------------------
Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content and our premium message board! Click on the link below for more.
Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!
Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook