Will USC-ND be a battle of ranked teams?

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From the “blatantly and unwisely looking ahead” files… after tomorrow’s games against Cal and Washington, respectively, USC and Notre Dame both have bye weeks before their October 17 clash in South Bend. This got me thinking: if the Trojans and Irish both win tomorrow, could ND earn a spot in the Top 25 in time to turn their rivalry game with ‘SC into a battle of ranked teams, thus cueing the hype machine, waking up the echoes and so forth?

To answer the question, you’ve got to look at the teams currently ranked ahead of the Irish in the polls, specifically the AP poll, which is the one that’s more widely used in the media when talking about upcoming games. For simplicity’s sake, I’m going to assume that the Top 13 — i.e., the top-tier unbeatens* plus Virginia Tech, USC, Oklahoma and Ohio State — will stay in the Top 25 even with a single loss in the next two weeks. Likewise, I’m assuming that anyone ranked #14-25 is liable to drop out of the rankings with a loss. These are crude assumptions, but I suspect they’re mostly correct.

So… who might lose, and tumble out of the polls, making way for the Irish?

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