Notre Dame Football: Irish finish the season ranked #8 in AP Top 25

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have another top 10 finish on its list of accomplishments. Late Monday night, the AP released their final Top 25, and Notre Dame came in ranked #8.

Congratulations to the Georgia Bulldogs and their first national championship since 1980. The Dawgs finally took out the Alabama Crimson Tide in the championship game, and after a tense three and a half quarters — they [Georgia] unloaded in the latter half of the 4th quarter to get a 33-18 win.

Now... I do take an issue with this poll even though I don’t disagree with the rankings themselves. I was lead to believe that if you get your ass handed to you in the semifinals, a top four ranking just isn’t for you.

I guess that’s only reserved for a special kind of hate.

Notre Dame had 11 wins in 2021, but none of those wins came against a team that finished in the top 25. The Wisconsin Badgers and Purdue Boilermakers received some votes — so that’s something.

After 13 games and a tragic meltdown in the Fiesta Bowl against the Oklahoma State Cowboys (#7), the Irish finished one spot higher than where they started the season.

Progress.