Gameday

Fighting Irish well-positioned for playoff run

National View

Perhaps no team outside the SEC controls the prospects of more playoff-caliber teams on its schedule than Notre Dame.

At present, three of Notre Dame's remaining opponents are nationally ranked and contending for spots in their respective conference championship game.

Two of those opponents are undefeated and ranked in the top 10 -- No. 8 BYU (5-0) of the Big 12 and No. 3 Miami (5-0) of the ACC.

SMU (4-1), another ACC opponent, is ranked No. 24.

At 6-0, Notre Dame is off to its best start since 2020 when it finished the regular season 10-0.

The possibility of earning favorable seeding in the College Football Playoff offers weekly motivation for national championship contenders.

For BYU and Miami, a loss to Notre Dame in a competitive game would be the type of quality setback that earns the respect of pollsters.

As a one-loss team, SMU is already walking the CFP tightrope. Losing to Notre Dame would not enhance the Mustangs' playoff prospects.

Like a tennis player holding serve, the Fighting Irish maintained their position at No. 3 in the rankings for five weeks before moving up to the second spot last Sunday.

Notre Dame has made easy work of six unranked opponents, scoring no fewer than 27 points while extending the program record for consecutive double-digit victories to 16.

The record of 21 consecutive double-digit wins was set by Army from 1944 to 1946. Miami ranks second in the category with 17 from 2000 to 2001.

Throughout the years, Notre Dame has remained the standard by which other programs are judged, even during lean times.

When the Irish are down, they still are expected to roll over traditionally weaker opponents.

With all the attention directed at the SEC, there is a feeling that Notre Dame has been performing in the shadows this season.

Starting tomorrow night in Provo against BYU, the Irish will be taking center stage.

Case closed

Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi grabbed national headlines by complaining that pollsters were disrespectful to the ACC.

He would have a stronger case for inclusion of more ACC teams in the AP Top 25 if the 17 league teams actually played tougher non-conference opponents.

At the time Narduzzi held court, ACC teams had played a total of 81 games. Only five of those games featured ranked opponents -- four from the SEC and Independent Notre Dame.

The ACC teams lost all five of those games.

In summation, Pitt fell from the ranks of the unbeatens last weekend by losing at home to an unranked North Carolina team that picked up its first road win against a ranked opponent since 2020.

Picking up the pace

Since opening the season with a loss at then-No. 2 Oregon, Boise State has won five straight.

The streak includes an inaugural win as a Pac-12 member which doubled as the program's 27th-consecutive win in a conference opener.

Including last Saturday's 38-31 victory over Fresno State, Boise State has won 84.5 percent of its games as a ranked team since transitioning to the FBS in 1996.

The leading rusher in FBS with 835 yards, Boise State's Dylan Riley totaled 150 yards on 19 carries against Fresno State, including a 72-yard touchdown scamper on the Broncos' second play from scrimmage.

Next Bear up

Two offensive reserves contributed heroic efforts in Cal's 25-20 last-minute win over Virginia Tech.

Backup running back Ashten Emory scored two touchdowns, including the game-winner from 2 yards out with 18 seconds left in the game.

Subbing for starter Adam Mohammed who sustained a foot injury, Emory rushed for 46 yards on 19 carries and scored Cal's first touchdown on a 5-yard run in the second quarter.

Quarterback Jackson Brousseau was called upon to start after Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele was ruled out at the conclusion of pre-game warmups due to a concussion he suffered Oct. 3. Brousseau went 29-of-43 for 321 yards and a touchdown.

Notable

■ A 20-17 loss to Indiana extended Nebraska's losing streak against ranked opponents to 31 games, a legacy of futility that began in 2016.

■ Indiana's 22-game winning streak is the longest nationally since Georgia won 29 straight from 2021 to 2023 and the longest in the Big Ten since Ohio State won 23 in a row spanning 2013 and 2014.

■ Utah (5-0) is the only FBS team to win every game this season by 14 or more points.

■ In wins over Maryland and Oregon the last two weeks, the UCLA defense allowed only two conversions on 27 total third-down attempts.

■ With 56-26 and 66-14 wins over Colorado State and San Diego State, respectively, Oregon State has topped 50 points in back-to-back games for the first time since 1921.

■ One week after missing a game-winning field-goal attempt against Pitt, Virginia Tech kicker John Love was unsuccessful on two attempts in a 25-20 loss to Cal.

■ Eastern Michigan, 3-0 in the Mid-American Conference for the first time since 1995, and USC are the only FBS teams with schedules that began in Week 0 and continue without a bye through Week 6. USC's bye is tomorrow. Eastern Michigan's Nov. 14 bye precedes the final two games of the regular season.

■ Georgia has set a program record with 277 total points over the first six games, supplanting the mark established by the 1910 team (270).

■ Sun Belt newcomer Louisiana Tech picked up its first-ever conference win by scoring 19 fourth-quarter points, including the game-winning touchdown with 46 seconds left, in a 32-31

triumph over Louisiana.

■ Of the 10 FCS teams that have reclassified to FBS in the past 10 years, only North Dakota State (now 5-1) and James Madison have started with five straight victories. The Dukes started 5-0 in 2022 before losing three straight games.

■ By season's end, Louisiana will become the first college football team to play in two Olympic stadiums in the same season--vs. USC in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and vs. Georgia State in Center Parc Stadium, which originated as Centennial Olympic Stadium in Atlanta.

Quotable

"I took a picture of College GameDay this morning and everybody picked LSU. Keep doing that. I appreciate that. Gives us a lot of fuel and a lot of fire because everybody doubts us."

-- Kentucky head coach Will Stein after the Wildcats upset LSU in overtime, 35-34

"People questioning the commitment and the coaches can't coach and the players stink. It comes with the arena. But at the same time, sometimes that fuels you."

-- Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables after his unranked Sooners topped No. 1 Texas

"We'll be back home next week against Rutgers. A very winnable game for us at home for homecoming."

-- Maryland head coach Michael Locksley bravely providing bulletin board material for Rutgers, despite his team losing four straight, including the last three by an average of 35 points

"You've got to see it as a boxing match, and you've got to see the body shots wear people down."

-- Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz after the Tigers ran the ball 44 times for 252 yards in a 27-6 win over Texas A&M

Jim Caltagirone, a former member of Penn State's sports information department, comments on the national scene for Gameday. He can be reached at jimclion4ever@gmail.com.