Some thought Notre Dame could — or perhaps should — jump Penn State in the latest edition of the College Football Playoff selection committee rankings. That didn’t happen. Penn State retained its No.
4 spot in the CFP committee’s latest top 25. Notre Dame, meanwhile, moved up one spot to No. 5, taking advantage of Indiana’s loss to Ohio State.
But there were arguments made heading into the rankings that the Fighting Irish deserve to be ahead of the Nittany Lions after Notre Dame dominated Army and Penn State narrowly beat Minnesota. Those points were made again in light of Tuesday night’s rankings. Notre Dame’s only defeat was a shocking home loss to Northern Illinois back in September.
Since then, Marcus Freeman’s team has rolled to nine straight wins. All nine wins have come by double digits, and seven of them were by 20 points or more. The Fighting Irish have wins over four teams ranked at the time of playing: Texas A&M, Louisville, Navy and Army.
Penn State’s only blemish is a seven-point home loss to Ohio State in October. Since then, the Nittany Lions have blown out Washington and Purdue before narrowly escaping with a 26-25 win over Minnesota. Penn State’s lone ranked win of the year is over Illinois.
While it sounds like Notre Dame has a strong case to be ranked No. 4, the numbers actually lie with Penn State. According to ESPN’s metrics, the Nittany Lions’ “strength of record” is fourth and their strength of schedule is 32nd nationally.
No.