Note Dame #11 this week!

[joelbc1]

They lose at home to Northern Illinois a couple of weeks ago . Now they did beat A&M on the road in their opener…and Louisville but beating Purdue and Miami/Ohio hardly places them as the #11 team in the nation!
The thing is ND has only one or two teams left that could beat them (Navy abs USC) so their path to the play-offs seems pretty wide open.
But if I was Iowa State, I’d be pissed being undefeated at 5-0 and seeing that I share my ranking with Notre Dame.

 

[Beattheohiostate]

They lose at home to Northern Illinois a couple of weeks ago . Now they did beat A&M on the road in their opener…and Louisville but beating Purdue and Miami/Ohio hardly places them as the #11 team in the nation!
The thing is ND has only one or two teams left that could beat them (Navy abs USC) so their path to the play-offs seems pretty wide open.
But if I was Iowa State, I’d be pissed being undefeated at 5-0 and seeing that I share my ranking with Notre Dame.

This is why ranking teams before October helps insulate the blue bloods. ND was ranked #5 before they played a game, so one loss--to Northern Illinois--"drops" them to #11. Had the first rankings come out this week, ND wouldn't be that high. Same with many other teams. The preseason ranking installs a major bias, a ranking based on history and guesswork, which is especially bogus in the current NIL era where most rosters change dramatically from season to season.