The Irish sit a surprising No. 11 in the first College Football Playoff rankings and need a win over top-ranked Miami to keep their playoff hopes alive.
ESPN's College GameDay is setting up shop in South Bend for Week 10, picking Miami at Notre Dame over a stacked slate of alternatives. The choice is notable mainly because of who it passed over: Georgia at Ole Miss, LSU vs. Alabama, BYU at Utah, Texas vs. Missouri, Tennessee vs. Kentucky and Ohio State vs. Oregon were all on the table.
Notre Dame landed at No. 11 in the first College Football Playoff rankings, released Tuesday, a slot that raised eyebrows given the Irish are facing the nation's No. 1 team this weekend. The ranking reflects a schedule seen as light on marquee wins, with Notre Dame's one big test so far a loss at BYU. A win over Miami would go a long way toward locking up a playoff berth.
The Miami-Notre Dame game doubles as a rematch of last year's meeting, a result that reportedly played a role in keeping the Irish out of the playoff then. Elsewhere in the same window, No. 9 BYU travels to No. 3 Utah for the Holy War rivalry game, a matchup with its own direct implications for the Big 12 race and the playoff picture.