Why is Notre Dame in the top 20?

Why is Notre Dame inside the top 20?

Speedblog

As I speak, Notre Dame is ranked #18 on one poll, and #20 on the other.

Both polls had the Irish as #23 last week.

So one must wonder, how did Notre Dame jump 3 to 5 spots in one weekend, after playing a team (Nevada) that does not boost your cred?

At first I wanted to argue this because in my opinion, Notre Dame is NOT one of the top 20 teams in the nation, and does NOT have a strong schedule to prove their manhood. To me, it just looks like Notre Dame fixed a soft schedule in hopes that their coach can save face, as well as the university. And sadly enough, what this may also prove is that a soft schedule CAN get you in the BCS…even if you don’t deserve it.

But to be fair to Notre Dame, there is a reason why they jumped up over other teams. On one poll Notre Dame is ranked over 7 other teams. I can explain why they are so ranked:

UNC is ranked #19 because last week they were ranked #21 in the nation, while Notre Dame was ranked #23. While the Tarheels crushed Citadel, at least Notre Dame beat a Division I foe. It kinda answers why they barely jumped them in one poll, but just under UNC in the other.

Miami (FL) was not even ranked last week, and their win over Florida State vaults them into #20. Consider that Florida State, Oregon and Iowa were dropped from one of the polls, you can see how the Irish were beneficiaries of such fortune.

Georgia was ranked #13, but their loss to Oklahoma State hurt them, and it is all too easy to jump over a team that is 0-1 when you are 1-0. I wonder if they punished Georgia too much, after all they played another ranked team, but I guess a loss is a loss.

Nebraska was ranked #24 last week, and this week only moved up 2 spots. Beating Florida Atlantic was good, but that is what they should have done. Some wonder if Nebraska will ever return to the days of old, when they ran the Big 12 like a king.

Cincinnati is ranked #23, and still surprised me how a team that won 11 games can be ignored as well as the entire Big East in the first week of the year. Yet a 1-0 record finally gets them some respect…though not much.

Kansas was ranked #25 last week, only moving one spot. I thought this team was pretty good last year, what’s the deal with the low ranking? Beating Northern Colorado didn’t earn any style points apparently, which is why Notre Dame was able to put distance on them.

Missouri wasn’t ranked last week, which again surprises me after all the noise the Big 12 made last year. This week they are at the bottom of that list, after beating a quality BCS conference team. Personally I thought they should have moved a little higher, but we can’t argue too much about the first weekend of the season.

So when you look at all that, one can’t argue much about where Notre Dame is placed. Sometimes you move up by default, not that it makes you that much better. This weekend they play Michigan, and I dare say the winner still won’t prove much, it’s two bad teams with historic names playing each other. But to be honest, they are right where they need to be…for now.