Notre Dame Football: 5 bold predictions for October 2018
By Jacob Wilson
2. The Irish finish October in the AP poll’s top four
Notre Dame is currently ranked sixth in the nation according to the most recent AP poll, right behind No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Clemson, and No. 5 LSU. They sit ahead of No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 8 Auburn with West Virginia and Washington rounding out the top 10.
In terms of those playing catch up to the Irish, neither Oklahoma nor Auburn have enough firepower on their schedule to jump the Irish should they stay undefeated. It would take a huge win over No. 19 Texas for the Sooners to leapfrog the Irish, but it would be a shock to see such a jump for an Oklahoma team that hasn’t yet faced top 25 competition.
Climbing up the rankings will likely prove to be a much tougher task for head coach Brian Kelly and his Notre Dame squad. While the Irish should jump at least one spot barring anything short of a razor-thin LSU victory over Georgia, asking for either Alabama, Ohio State, or Clemson to drop one of their next three or four games is no small request.
Alabama, Ohio State, and Clemson will all continue conference play, with Clemson’s matchup with No. 23 N.C. State being the only contest between two top 25 teams through the month of October. Again, hoping for either Alabama, Ohio State, or Clemson to lose to an opponent outside of the top 20 is asking for a lot, but crazier things have happened in the game of college football.