Did Notre Dame Receive a 'Blue-Blood Bump' in First Playoff Rankings?

Notre Dame and its massive fanbase had to be pleasantly surprised Tuesday night when the Fighting Irish came in at No. 5 in the first College Football Playoff rankings of 2015—three spots ahead of where they currently sit in the AP poll and four spots better than the coaches poll.

The playoff committee put head coach Brian Kelly and his team in a perfect position heading into the first weekend of November.

With No. 2 LSU and No. 4 Alabama set to square off Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, a win at Pittsburgh would put the Irish in one of the coveted playoff spots. Win out, and Notre Dame would seemingly be a lock for the final four, even with its one loss from earlier in the season.

According to Stewart Mandel of Fox Sports, only a couple of teams would have a realistic shot at jumping the Irish in the playoff rankings.

"The one obvious concern is that an undefeated Big 12 champ (TCU, Baylor or Oklahoma State) would eventually pass the Irish, as could No. 12 Utah if it runs the table and wins the Pac-12," Mandel wrote. "I would not be as worried, though, about a one-loss TCU, Baylor or Oklahoma State because the Irish should still finish with a stronger schedule."

Notre Dame's enviable position in the initial playoff rankings, however, came with its fair share of critics.

Matt Hayes of Sporting News suggested Notre Dame—and No. 4 Alabama—was ranked above the likes of undefeated Baylor, Michigan State, TCU and Iowa because of its name recognition.

"If you're seeing a trend (college football heavyweights) and embracing a conspiracy theory (the selection committee went big to draw interest), you're not alone," Hayes wrote. "The Irish lost at Clemson on the last play of the game, a two-point conversion try that could have tied the game. Other than that, there’s what on the ND resume?"

But while some are claiming a "blue-blood bump" for Notre Dame in the playoff rankings, the numbers support a great ranking for the Fighting Irish at this point in the season.

Notre Dame has a loss, yes, but it's the best conceivable loss in college football. That holds a lot of weight, especially when compared to teams that have zipped through easy schedules.

Richard Shiro/Associated Press

The Fighting Irish played Clemson, the committee's No. 1 team, on the road and in torrential rains from the Hurricane Joaquin storm system. While Notre Dame didn't impress for the majority of the game, it rallied in a huge way late before losing 24-22.

Since that game, Clemson has put up more than 530 yards in four straight victories by double digits. The Irish held Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson and company to 296 yards of offense.

As Bill Connelly of SB Nation noted on Twitter, the close loss at Clemson makes Notre Dame look a lot better in hindsight.

But while that loss undoubtedly looks better compared to the ones from teams such as Florida, Stanford and Utah, it doesn't quite explain Notre Dame's position above that quartet of undefeated teams from No. 6 through No. 9.

(Side note: Florida has a legitimate gripe to be just No. 10 if Notre Dame is No. 5, as the Gators lost by a touchdown at the committee's No. 2 team.)

For the answer to that puzzle, look at the Irish's complete body of work.

While Texas fell flat at the beginning of the season and Georgia Tech went through a rough losing streak to plummet out of the Top 25, Notre Dame's recent schedule has consisted of some legitimate tests compared to those of, say, Baylor and TCU.

In fact, Notre Dame's last three wins have all come against "teams with better-than-.500 records," which Mandel pointed out was committee chairman Jeff Long's favorite buzzword of Tuesday evening.

Notre Dame has two more wins against such teams than both Baylor and TCU, who have only beaten 5-4 Texas Tech. Iowa has the same amount, and Michigan State's count is boosted by wins over 5-3 Western Michigan and 5-3 Air Force.

None of those teams come close to Notre Dame's total strength of schedule through the first nine weeks of the college football season, per Jeff Sagarin's ratings at USA Today.

CFP Ranking	Record	SOS	W vs. Teams > .500 Records	Any Losses
4. Alabama	7-1	9	Wisconsin, UGA, No. 19 Texas A&M	vs. No. 18 Ole Miss
5. Notre Dame	7-1	16	Navy, USC, No. 22 Temple	at No. 1 Clemson
6. Baylor	7-0	104	Texas Tech	—
7. Michigan State	8-0	59	WMU, Oregon, Air Force, No. 17 Michigan	—
8. TCU	8-0	53	Texas Tech	—
9. Iowa	8-0	47	Pitt, Wisconsin, No. 21 Northwestern	—
10. Florida	7-1	15	No. 18 Ole Miss, UGA	at No. 2 LSU
11. Stanford	7-1	23	USC, No. 23 UCLA, Arizona	at No. 21 Northwestern
12. Utah	7-1	19	No. 17 Michigan, Utah State, Oregon, Cal	at USC

Ignore the notion of a "blue-blood bump." The committee appeared to favor Notre Dame because of its strength of schedule, especially its most recent games. 

"I think our last four games have been as good as anybody that’s played in the country," Kelly said before the rankings came out Tuesday, per Keith Arnold of NBC Sports. "I don’t know where it stands up exactly. I just know we played a very good schedule in the month of October. We have to win more games, but I’ll stand up our schedule to anybody else right now."

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

Baylor, TCU and lower-ranked Oklahoma State each have the reasonable opportunity to vault into the thick of the playoff picture if they run through a tough, back-loaded Big 12 schedule without a loss. 

Iowa and Michigan State, too, will get their chances in November. Both teams would have to beat No. 3 Ohio State in order to make an undefeated run of their own to the postseason.

Notre Dame can still improve its resume, too, in the final month of the regular season. Pittsburgh is another above-.500 team, and the Irish end their schedule with a trip to Pac-12 front-runner Stanford.

While the early playoff rankings are mostly for entertainment value at this point—there's a lot of potential chaos still left on the board—they give a glimpse as to what the committee values in a playoff team.

There's no doubt a Notre Dame playoff game would be tremendous for television ratings and ticket sales, but those are far from the only reasons why the Fighting Irish are sitting in the Top Five.

Right now, even with one loss, Notre Dame is highly regarded as a top playoff contender because of its full body of work—not its name brand.

Justin Ferguson is a college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.