Yeah, calling Kent State the worst program in FBS gives them too much credit. They barely beat Merrimack, an FCS independent that will likely be sub-.500 this year. They’d probably be underdogs to SFA at home. SP+ has them below Ferris State, which is a D-II team.
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I can’t wait for this game…and I am sure our coaches can’t wait either…This game is going to tell us greatly about our future opponent and who knows utah later.
Both teams have a ton of new players. We are going to have a ton of information for both teams including their…coaching.
I look forward to Texas Tech vs Utah
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Want proof 99 percent of pollsters dont watch games, look at scores, or delve into box scores?
Iowa State at 12 is egregious. I cant even begin to ‘defend’ that ranking after last week.
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Notre Dame lost two close games to ranked opponents.
The Fighting Irish likely would be 3-0 if they opened with SFA Rice and Colorado.
A football season usually requires a little luck, the way the ball bounces, the sudden shift in weather or in our case the schedule. Most did not like the schedule when it came out, but given the extra day from a Friday night plus the off week to get healthy was incredibly lucky. Who could have seen the number of injuries in the CU game. As a bonus, if we are lucky, UH and TT will be ranked and undefeated playing in TDECU, that is a bonus.
That is probably true but then that builds in a lot of bias to how you start in the poll with out any wins to back it up. This type of approach helps to feed into the SEC narriative that certain schools can have good wins AND good losses without impacting their ranking. ASU got dropped out of the poll completely with a close loss on the road (and are 2-1) and ND has yet to win a game this year.
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I’m playing devil’s advocate here, but good teams beat bad teams by a lot. We get the same flak they’re getting right now in basketball every year. “Houston plays nothing but cupcakes!”
Our argument is “ok but we destroy them”. Tech has the same argument.
Tech shows all the signs of being a very good team. Their starting QB hasn’t played in the 4th quarter in any games yet. They’ve out scored those weak opponents 160-0 in the first 3 quarters of the game with their starters.
They look incredible regardless of those opponents. Utah’s secondary isn’t great and I expect tech to move the ball through the air pretty easily on them.
This is pretending there is no context to a win.
Yes, it’s clear that Texas Tech is a very good team. I wouldn’t be surprised if they smash Utah!
no but Notre Dame will also play Purdue, Boston College, Navy and Stanford. Stanford and Boston College are Rice level football. Purdue might be and Navy Might be.
They also play a Syracuse team that struggled vs U Conn and a Pitt team that lost to one of the lesser B12 teams WVU
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I’ll have to double check, but I don’t think that ND has another ranked team on its remaining schedule; or at least, that was true as of last week.
It’d be funny if they went 10-2 the rest of the way, and then got an at large playoff bid due to the TV eyeballs that they bring in.
Funny. Good trivia question there. When was the last time a team with an 0-2 record was ranked ? ( I don’t know the answer)
Well, it is ND and they get special treatment. They have talent of course, and
those “high quality loses”, all is “fair”. Guess it will take a third loss for them to drop
out. Only other ranked team on their schedule now is #25 USC.
I was listening to one of Sirius channels Saturday afternoon and they discussed this exact scenario. Both hosts agreed a 10-2 ND would almost certainly get that spot, even though they’ll lack any great wins on their schedule.
Quality losses rule!
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Notre Dame plays #25 USC at home, on October 18, 2025. Talk about must win for Notre Dame.
I still think Notre Dane is a CFP long shot, but I also think the CFP Committee will do everything in their power to justify Notre Dame being included.
that’s literally the reason AP still ranks them
Because as long as they win out they have a spot in the CFP
if they lose one more it’s over, but as you said, remaining schedule is easy
I missed that USC just moved into the Top 25, so that’s their one chance to make a playoff case.
Lose that, and they’re done.
Now what would be REALLY funny…is if they beat arch rival USC…almost run the table, and then lose to sucky ass Stanford on Thanksgiving week.
I doubt that that is realistic, but it’d be TOO DAMN FUNNY if it happened!
USC is probably over ranked at the moment.