Has Notre Dame actually beaten any good teams?
That seems to be the question and the reasoning behind the Irish checking in ninth in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, as they don’t have a marquee win to their name.
They do however have wins over No. 18 Wisconsin and No. 19 Purdue, which combines to be more wins over currently ranked opponents than plenty of teams currently ranked ahead of the Irish can say.
Wisconsin and Purdue each have six wins over FBS teams this year while Notre Dame teams Notre Dame has beaten have combined to win 32 games over FBS opponents. According to Phil Steele that’s the second-most such victories nationally this year.
2021 CFB Strength of Wins.
You get credit for every FBS win of opponent you defeat.
1. Georgia 38
2 Notre Dame 32
3 Wisconsin 30
4 Oregon & Michigan 28
6 Texas A&M, BYU and Boise 27
9 Alabama & Okla St 26
11 Ohio St & Cincinnati 25
5 tied at 13
https://t.co/X0Jrf9tAZ3— Phil Steele (@philsteele042) November 11, 2021
The good with this for Notre Dame’s case is the obvious, that literally only top-ranked Georgia can claim to have done what the Irish have done in this specific regard. The issue however would likely be going forward where Notre Dame plays Virginia (5), Georgia Tech (2), and Stanford (3) who would currently combine to give the Irish just 10 additional victories in the strength of wins department.
Whatever the case, at least next time a friend of yours bashes Notre Dame’s schedule and claims the Irish haven’t beaten anyone, you can come back with this.
Related:
Notre Dame-Virginia: Staff Predictions
Detailing Notre Dame’s map to a CFP appearance