Notre Dame Football: Irish move up to #3 in both the AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish won an ugly 12-7 game over the Louisville Cardinals on Saturday, and fans are pretty much losing their collective minds. People are saying, “this isn’t a top 5 team — they aren’t even a top 15 team.” In a way they are absolutely right... Notre Dame is a top 3 team.

Both the Coaches Poll and the AP Top 25 moved the Irish up one spot from #4 to #3 on Sunday. Just to be clear... if Notre Dame would have won 70-0 they would still be #3 in this poll, because they won.

The Irish absolutely played like crap on offense on Saturday — and more specifically with their passing game. That should not overshadow another solid day on the ground and a really good defensive performance. Certainly it wasn’t a good game by most standards, and no one should argue that point, but rather than a clunker upset loss in a game that never really felt like Notre Dame was actually going to lose — it was a win. A WIN.

Some may argue that Notre Dame isn’t as good as the Alabama Crimson Tide or the Clemson Tigers. Well no shit — they’re ranked above the Irish at #1 and #2, and that was the thinking by 99% of people going into the season anyways.

Notre Dame is undefeated and ranked #3 in the country. Take it for what it is (and to be fair, with these polls it really isn’t much) and try to get over a clunker win at home and get excited for the first road trip of the season against the Pittsburgh Panthers.