A win against college football’s consensus No. 1 team sure means a lot.
Until it doesn’t.
For this week, anyway, the College Football Playoff Selection Committee has made one thing crystal clear: Beat No. 1, and the ripple effects can carry a long, long way.
All the way to Provo, apparently.
Notre Dame’s win against previously unbeaten and unanimous No. 1 Miami helped rescue two-loss BYU from a much steeper fall. The Cougars slipped only one spot, from No. 9 to No. 10, in the second iteration of the 2026 CFP rankings.
"When you have a win over what is now our fifth-ranked team," CFP chairman Hunter Yurachek said, "that really is a feather in the cap for BYU."
Quite the feather.
Notre Dame, which debuted at No. 11 in the 2026 CFP rankings on Nov. 3, rocketed to No. 5 after its 31-24 win against Miami on Saturday night inside sold-out Notre Dame Stadium.
And this wasn’t some fluky, survive-and-advance upset.
The Fighting Irish (8-1) scored on their opening possession and led for the final 54 minutes, 38 seconds. They led by double digits for 20 minutes of game time.
Notre Dame hosts Boston College this week, welcomes unranked but two-loss SMU for its home finale Nov. 21 and closes the regular season Nov. 28 at Syracuse.
The CFP selection committee revealed its second set of rankings of the 2026 season late Tuesday night. It will do this rankings dance again Nov. 17, Nov. 24 and Dec. 1 before the 12-team field formally is set Sunday, Dec. 6, following the final round of conference championship games.
Enjoy those while they last.
Conference championship games will cease to exist under the terms of the new 24-team CFP, which formally was adopted Monday, Nov. 9.
Yes, Miami has an excuse. The Hurricanes played their first game without all-everything wideout Malachi Toney, who was injured in Nov. 4, practice and since has undergone a “medical procedure” to fix his ankle.
But Notre Dame wasn’t exactly operating at full strength, either.
The Irish were missing multiple defensive starters. Mike linebacker Drayk Bowen had been the team’s green dot, in-helmet communicator and a consensus NFL Draft prospect. Defensive tackle Frances Brewu was among the team’s highest-paid additions after signing from Pittsburgh via the NCAA Transfer Portal.
Cornerback Leonard Moore missed almost 50% of the defensive snaps, while safety Brauntae Johnson, who had targeted a return against the Hurricanes, instead missed his eighth straight game.
So maybe the committee finally sees what others already did.
‘I would say this right now: I think (the Irish) have one of the best teams in the country,” said Skip Holtz, son of the late College Football Hall of Fame coach Lou Holtz, last Saturday night before Notre Dame’s win against Miami. “I think when I look at the team that (Marcus Freeman) has put together right now, I think this team is capable of winning a national championship.
“I think the college football committee has made some decisions that have a lot of people, not just Notre Dame, but a lot of people scratching their head. Now, this team was ranked ahead of that team, who beat that team, who has losses on that team. I wish that the criteria would be public.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Notre Dame beat No. 1 Miami. Why BYU may be the biggest winner
