Notre Dame Blew Out Stanford, Still Dropped in the College Football Polls

Despite a dominant blowout win over Stanford, Notre Dame surprisingly dropped in the latest polls, raising questions about its playoff hopes.

Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard (13) reaches out to stiff arm Stanford linebacker Gaethan Bernadel (0) during a NCAA college football game between Notre Dame and Stanford at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in South Bend. / MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Notre Dame's AP ranking fell after big win

In a bit of frustrating news for Notre Dame fans, the Irish actually fell in the AP ranking from 11-12 off the heels of the big blowout win over Stanford.

Brian Kelly's LSU Tigers were big winners over the weekend jumping a handful of spots, ahead of the Irish and all the way up to 8th position. Iowa State also saw a nice little boost after its win over West Virginia.

This week's slate of games did not provide nearly the same level of chaos as the previous week of games did that ended up benefiting Notre Dame in the rankings bigtime. One thing is for certain. There will be more chaos to come. The drama never ends in college football.

🚨 NEW 🚨 The AP Poll for Week 8 just dropped!@oregonfootball moves up to No. 2️⃣ in the country after beating Ohio State at home. pic.twitter.com/qpwwzwk2RX

— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) October 13, 2024

Is Notre Dame's drop in the AP poll a huge deal?

Certainly after a huge blowout win over a P4 opponent, one would hope and assume a team would move up the rankings, but that didn't happen for Notre Dame this week due to some other teams who tallied wins against better teams. While a bit frustrating, this isn't the end of the world for the Irish.

There will be plenty of chaos and carnage yet to come from the college football schedule. That will take care of itself. If Notre Dame wins its remaining 6 games, it will be in the CFP.

Period.

That is by far the most important takeaway from this week's AP release. I also think we have learned that the prospect of a 10-2 Irish team sneaking in the CFP looks bleak, 11-1 looks like it will be needed.

Notre Dame has 6 play-in games left on the schedule with no more margin for error. The stakes couldn't be any higher.

For more Irish news & notes follow John on Twitter @alwaysirishINC, Always Irish on Youtube and or your preferred audio podcast provider.

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