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Warde Manuel explains Notre Dame’s positioning in latest CFP rankings
By Crissy Froyd
Published:
Warde Manuel, the chair of the College Football Playoff committee, recently aired his thoughts on Notre Dame and quarterback Riley Leonard after placing the team at No. 6 overall in the updated rankings. Without a conference title game to worry about, the Fighting Irish appear to be in a “win-and-in” scenario with 2 weeks left in the regular season.
Some viewed that as a bit too high for Notre Dame in a list that was met with a ton of controversy, but Manuel highlighted what he saw out of that team since they bounced back from the upset loss to NIU. Several had counted the team out after that, writing them off as a squad that was simply overrated in the preseason.
“Well, I think the Irish since that loss have performed very well. Riley Leonard has come into his own,” Manuel said during Tuesday’s media teleconference. “He’s really a dynamic runner. They had a great opening win against Texas A&M. Really going into that Navy game, Navy was playing well, and then they really had a dominant performance there.
“We’ve been impressed in how Notre Dame has recovered since that loss to NIU at home, and their performance moving forward we’ll continue to monitor and take a look at. But they’ve really come on strong since that loss.”
Notre Dame is currently on an 8-game winning streak, most recently defeating the Virginia Cavaliers, 35-14. The team hasn’t looked back since that upset in its second game, bouncing back as well as anyone could have hoped for.
The Fighting Irish will look to finish out the season on a high note as they face No. 18 Army and USC to round out the season.
Crissy covers SEC football news for Saturday Down South.
