2. No. 9 - Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame keeps winning and, as a result, keeps rising in the rankings. The Irish have an excellent win over USC, 34-24 in South Bend, but what is their second-best victory? Is it North Carolina State at home? Navy with the backup quarterback, again in South Bend? Arkansas before they fired Sam Pittman? At a Pittsburgh team that still has not beaten a quality opponent? There’s not much meat on the resume, and the loss to Miami doesn’t look great either. Notre Dame is good, particularly on offense, but its resume is not that of a top-ten team.
Week 13: Syracuse at Notre Dame (-35.5)