Notre Dame Football: Irish drop to #19 in both the AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll

The AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll releases their latest set of rankings on Sunday, and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish came in ranked #19 in both of them.

The Irish are the highest ranked four-loss team in the top 25 — so that’s something to celebrate [ducks]. There were six voters that didn’t even have the Irish ranked — which is a choice, I guess.

Before you go screaming about “meaningless polls” these polls are actually the ones that matter to Notre Dame right now. The college football playoff rankings are only there to set the playoff and the bowl landscape — and we will get to that on Tuesday.

The final finish in the AP poll is what interests me the most. I was really hoping for a top 10 finish for the Irish this year, but that finish needed a win over USC and a bowl win (regardless of bowl and opponent). A top 15 finish is well within reach and if Notre Dame wins the bowl game they will be in that group, but still likely outside of the top 10 — which is a nice thing to have in your pocket for recruiting and other reasons.