This is what happened in college football while Notre Dame was eating cheeseburgers

It wasn’t a wild day in the world of college football on Saturday afternoon, but it sure got SUPER nuts after we got the kids to bed. Since the Notre Dame Fighting Irish had a bye this week, I have a chance to provide a small summery of the day with an Irish slant.

NOTRE DAME’S OPPONENT RESULTS

There were some mixed results on the day for the schools on Notre Dame’s schedule.

• Michigan Wolverines WIN over Michigan State Spartans
• Ball State Cardinals LOSE to Eastern Michigan Eagles
• Vanderbilt Commodores LOSE to Kentucky Wildcats
• Stanford Cardinal WIN over Arizona State Sun Devils
• Florida State Seminoles WIN over Wake Forest Demon Deacons
• Virginia Tech Hokies BYE
• Pittsburgh Panthers BYE
• Navy Midshipmen LOSE to Houston Cougars
• Northwestern Wildcats WIN over Rutgers Scarlet Knights
• Syracuse Orange WIN over North Carolina Tar Heels
• USC Trojans LOSE to Utah Utes

So, Michigan will be, without a doubt, Notre Dame’s best win this year. I think a lot of us were hoping USC would play better to add some fire late in the season, but they looked bad against Utah and may be completely done by Thanksgiving weekend.

PURDUE SHOOK IT ALL UP

The Purdue Boilermakers beat the crap out of the Ohio State Buckeyes tonight. It was the most NON-Purdue game ever (pretty exciting). The #2 ranked Buckeyes will likely fall out of the top 10, and this should allow the Irish to move up one more spot to #3 in the polls that absolutely mean nothing.

Purdue’s win made sure that there will be no undefeated Big 10 champion, and this helps put a lot more teams in play for the playoffs.

LET’S TALK ABOUT THE PLAYOFFS FOR A SECOND

We still have another week until the first playoff rankings are released, but I think we can start to see how they might look. My best guess right now is:

1. Alabama Crimson Tide
2. Clemson Tigers
3. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
4. LSU Tigers
5. Texas Longhorns
6. Michigan Wolverines
7. Georgia Bulldogs
8. Oklahoma Sooners

With similar records, Texas has a better “best win” than Michigan. So, if Alabama beats LSU the next week, the door for the Big 12 opens up. If Bama loses, be prepared for 2 SEC schools in the playoffs.

I won’t look much any farther ahead than that, because college football is so unpredictable, it feels a bit silly.

BEAT NAVY

Notre Dame has to gear up, and head out to San Diego with destruction on their minds. With all sorts of ridiculous playoff theories being thrown around, all Notre Dame has to do is win. JUST WIN (and beatdowns certainly help).