Would Notre Dame be No. 6 without those golden helmets? Please
Blake Toppmeyer, USA TODAYSat, October 31, 2026 at 7:11 PM UTC
Put aside the spiffy helmets and just consider the resume.
If the team in navy and gold didn’t possess the Notre Dame name, didn’t have the leprechaun mascot, didn’t overflow with prestige, where would the Irish be ranked?
Answer: lower in the polls than they are.
We don’t have to wonder about this. We can just look at Wake Forest.
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Entering this weekend, the Irish and Demon Deacons were one-loss teams that shared nearly identical resumes.
Wake Forest’s strength of record ranked one spot ahead of Notre Dame’s, and the teams shared a similar strength of schedule.
One team was ranked No. 6 in the latest US LBM Coaches Poll. The other was ranked No. 15. You don’t need me to tell you which was which.
Why?
Well, although the Demon Deacons sometimes wear shiny gold helmets, theirs has Wake Forest branding on it.
Teams like Kentucky and Brigham Young rank behind Notre Dame despite superior resumes.
This is an obvious case of brand bias. The Irish are plenty talented, but they’re overrated in the polls, when you consider their resume.
Don’t even try to argue otherwise after No. 6 Notre Dame’s 35-13 victory against Navy.
The final score presents like a rout, but the Irish led by a single point at halftime.
“We can’t panic,” Irish coach Marcus Freeman told ABC in a halftime interview.
They didn’t panic. They dominated after halftime and dispensed with a wonky opponent that runs an old-school offense.
Crisis averted, but Notre Dame’s credentials remain in question ahead of next week’s showdown against No. 1 Miami.
Where will CFP committee rank Notre Dame?
Will the College Football Playoff selection committee be suckers for the golden domes?
Or, will they recognize what Coaches Poll and AP voters keep missing? That is, Notre Dame has Wake Forest’s resume.
What about the eye test? Well, in Notre Dame’s final sales pitch before the initial playoff rankings are released in a few days, they looked sluggish throughout the first half.
Notre Dame had two weeks to prepare for Navy, and still Chris Ash’s defense looked half-asleep for two quarters. Navy scored on each of its first three possessions, and this game could’ve gotten tense if the Midshipmen (2-6) didn’t twice settle for field goals on drives that stalled in the red zone.
Navy couldn’t stop Notre Dame’s ground game, but the Irish preferred their pass game. In the first half, CJ Carr scarcely looked like the Heisman Trophy frontrunner he was billed as in the preseason. Carr should consider himself fortunate he wasn’t intercepted a time or two, and he fired three straight incompletions on one drive that ended in a three-and-out.
Notre Dame lights up Navy after halftime, but questions remain
Carr caught fire after halftime. So did his supporting cast. Notre Dame’s athleticism advantage became unmistakable.
It’d be foolish to make sweeping judgments from a listless first half against a service academy. Navy’s game plan limited the number of possessions, and nobody else on Notre Dame’s schedule will operate out of the Navy flexbone.
But, zoom out and consider the entire Notre Dame picture. The Irish tallied a couple of blowout wins against overmatched opponents, but their best win came against a Wisconsin team that’s now 5-3.
Like Wake Forest, Notre Dame lost to its toughest opponent.
Like Wake Forest, Notre Dame will have an opportunity to prove itself against Miami. (The Hurricanes beat Wake Forest by 13 points.)
Like Wake Forest, the Irish could be left with a vulnerable resume if they lose to Miami.
They’ll be at the mercy of the committee.
Will the committee treat Notre Dame like Wake Forest? Or, will the committee fall in line with poll voters and overlook the patchy resume and give a golden boost to the golden domes?
If the committee sets aside Notre Dame's brand prestige, it'll see a wobbly resume that merits a healthy dose of scrutiny, and a team that needs to beat Miami to erase doubts.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Listen to his podcast, "College Football Unfiltered." Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Would Notre Dame be No. 6 without those golden helmets? Please
Source: Sports
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