It was another fun weekend for Notre Dame to sit back and watch some carnage. Three teams fell from the ranks of the unbeaten re-shaping the 12-team playoff picture as the first rankings from the committee are set to come out this Tuesday evening.

Here’s the latest 18 Stripes Top 20 Poll:

18 Stripes Top 20 Poll

[/fusion_text]

RANK TEAM RECORD NEXT
1 Oregon 9-0 vs. Maryland
2 Miami (+1) 9-0 at Georgia Tech
3 Ohio State (+1) 7-1 vs. Purdue
4 Georgia (+1) 7-1 at Ole Miss
5 Texas (+1) 7-1 vs. Florida
6 Indiana (+1) 9-0 vs. Michigan
7 Tennessee (+1) 7-1 vs. Mississippi State
8 BYU (+1) 8-0 at Utah
9 SMU (+10) 8-1 BYE
10 Notre Dame (+1) 7-1 vs. Florida State
11 Penn State (-9) 7-1 vs. Washington
12 Boise State (+3) 7-1 vs. Nevada
13 Army (+4) 8-0 at North Texas
14 Alabama (+4) 6-2 at LSU
15 Iowa State (-5) 7-1 at Kansas
16 LSU (NR) 6-2 vs. Alabama
17 Washington State (+3) 7-1 vs. Utah State
18 Texas A&M (-6) 7-2 BYE
19 Ole Miss (NR) 7-2 vs. Texas
20 Clemson (-7) 6-2 at Virginia Tech

OUT:

#14 Kansas State
#16 Pittsburgh

Kansas State fall out of our rankings and the Big 12 championship game for now as they drop a pretty bad game at Houston 24-19. After a poor start to the season, Houston is now 3-3 in league play.

Pittsburgh was blown out 48-25 visiting SMU to suffer their first loss of 2024. That drops Pitt out of the ACC title game chase and moves SMU up to a potential matchup with Miami.

First round bye watch (if they win their conferences):

#1 Oregon
#2 Miami
#4 Georgia
#8 BYU

It was a great bye week for BYU who watches Iowa State lose. The Cougars are now the lone remaining team without a loss in the Big XII and would face a potential league championship against…Iowa State at the moment.

National Storylines

Louisiana remains unbeaten in the Sun Belt after a Tuesday night 23-17 win at Texas State.

Liberty is definitely out of the playoff picture now. They lost 31-21 to visiting Jacksonville State.

Western Kentucky is 4-0 in Conference USA following a 31-14 win versus Kennesaw State.

More league unbeatens as Tulane moves to 5-0 in the AAC after smoking Charlotte 34-3.

No problems for Boise State on Friday night following a 56-24 win over San Diego State.

Oregon stays atop the polls running away from Michigan 38-17.

Michigan has lost 3 out of its last 4 games. 

Tennessee trailed at halftime then came back to beat Kentucky 28-18.

Georgia overcame a bunch of struggles win their rivalry with Florida 34-20 in Jacksonville.

Texas Tech sprung an upset with a 23-22 win over Iowa State.

Penn State didn’t score an offensive touchdown as they lost 20-13 to visiting Ohio State.

The Cinderella run for Indiana continues following a 47-10 destruction of Michigan State.

Lane Kiffin’s offense was cooking as Ole Miss beat Arkansas 63-31.

Thirty-six points in the 2nd half let Miami remain undefeated and beat Duke 53-31.

Nebraska has lost 3 straight games following a 27-20 defeat in Lincoln to UCLA.

Two straight losses for Illinois who falls 25-17 at home to Minnesota.

Clark Lea and Vanderbilt move to 6-3 with a 17-7 win at Auburn.

Arizona State is quietly 6-2 after beating Oklahoma State 42-21.

What’s got into Iowa’s offense? The Hawkeyes beat Wisconsin 42-10.

Opponent Watch

Texas A&M (7-2): Vegas knew A&M was in for a dog fight this weekend and it was even worse than that as the Aggies lose soundly to South Carolina 44-20.

Northern Illinois (4-4): It was a bye week for the Huskies.

Purdue (1-7): After a 26-20 loss to Northwestern the Boilermakers are still winless against FBS opponents in 2024.

Miami [OH] (4-4): Another MAC opponent with a bye week.

Louisville (6-3): After some early struggles, Louisville took control and handed Clemson their first ACC loss by the score of 33-21.

Stanford (2-7): Now six straight losses for Stanford following a 59-28 loss at NC State.

Georgia Tech (5-4): The Yellow Jackets had the week off and host Miami this weekend.

Navy (6-2): Only 260 total yards for Navy as they fall 24-10 at mighty Rice.

Florida State (1-8): Five straight losses for Florida State after a 35-11 defeat to North Carolina.

Virginia (4-4): A bye week for the Cavaliers who face Pittsburgh this weekend.

Army (8-0): Even missing their starting quarterback, Army easily beat Air Force 20-3 to remain unbeaten.

USC (4-5): Here’s to clinching at least 5 losses in a season for the 4th time in the last 6 seasons! The Trojans lost to Washington 26-21 with a bye week now on tap.