Notre Dame surprisingly fell from No. 9 to No. 10 in the latest edition of the College Football Playoff rankings, the second-last edition of the rankings before the playoff bracket is announced on Sunday. Despite handily defeating Stanford in their final game of the regular season, Notre Dame dropped a spot behind Alabama after the Crimson Tide’s narrow win over Auburn.
“It’s obviously disappointing, but moreso because you’re confused in terms of what we could have done differently and why we fell when you won 49–20,” Freeman said of the rankings change.
Freeman continued, “... For me it was just didn’t see a great explanation for why we fell when we had the performance we did last Saturday. Disappointing that we fell because I don’t necessarily agree with it. I think our guys did a good enough job versus Stanford to warrant not falling in the rankings. I don’t know if [Alabama] did that much better than us to jump us.”
Notre Dame HC Marcus Freeman shared his thoughts on the latest College Football Playoff rankings.
— Matt Freeman (@mattfreeman05_) December 3, 2025
“You just didn’t see a great explanation for why we fell when we had the performance we did last Saturday.” pic.twitter.com/VA25Ul1GCI
CFP chair Hunter Yurachek explained why Alabama jumped Notre Dame after the rankings announcement:
“As we looked at those two teams and how closely they have been over the past three weeks, Notre Dame went on the road, had a strong win at Stanford, but Alabama went on the road and a rivalry game looked really good, especially in the first half, getting up 17 to nothing. Ran the ball well. Auburn came back at them. They had a great gutsy call on fourth-and-2, late in the [fourth] quarter to get a touchdown, and then got the turnover late in that game. And I think that was enough to change the minds of a couple of committee members to push Alabama up ahead of Notre Dame in this week’s rankings.”
Yurachek’s explanation was not convincing, and the switch could prove costly if BYU ends up defeating Texas Tech in the Bg 12 championship game. In that scenario, the Cougars would make the playoff, and the Red Raiders likely wouldn’t fall all the way out of the field, leaving Notre Dame with a good chance of being the last team out instead of Alabama.
Freeman certainly believes his Fighting Irish are deserving of making this year’s CFP. He toldToday, “We’ve won 10 games in a row by double digit points. We’re playing as consistent and well as we have all season. That’s what you want as you look at who’s going to make the playoffs, you want consistent and proven teams. We’re for sure one of those.”
Marcus Freeman’s pitch for Notre Dame to make the College Football Playoff, via @TODAYshow:
— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) December 3, 2025
“We’ve won 10 games in a row by double digit points. We’re playing as consistent and well as we have all season.”
He says the Irish are “for sure” worthy of a CFP spot by way of that. pic.twitter.com/eQrNUbk80C
Freeman and Notre Dame will have to wait until Sunday to find out whether they made the playoff, or if swap ends up costing them.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Marcus Freeman Explains Why He’s Disappointed With Notre Dame’s Latest CFP Ranking.
