College Football Rankings 2011: One Win for Notre Dame Not Worth the Top 25

Hey, Notre Dame supporters, calm down. It was just one game that your Notre Dame Fighting Irish just so happened to win. It was one game that somehow the Irish either forgot how to play defense, like against Michigan, or started out slow only to fall short in the end, like against South Florida.

But hey, it was a good win against a ranked team, the No. 15 Michigan State Spartans, and you won going away. You should celebrate a lot that maybe your team isn't as bad as you may have thought. Who knows, maybe the Irish can win out, finishing with a 10-2 record? 

Yet, there's the notion that just one victory, yes against a ranked team, should propel the Fighting Irish back into the Top 25. That thought is borderline insane. That just after one victory, and after starting the year in the Top 25, then losing the first two games, that they should re-join both the Associated Press and the USA Today's Coaches Polls.

Next week, Notre Dame is on the road against a Pittsburgh team that dominated their game against Iowa for three quarters before dropping a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter.

So, if the Irish can head into Pittsburgh and get a victory against the Panthers, then maybe they can be in the honorable mentions portion of the polls. But at 2-2, they shouldn't be listed with the 24 other teams that were able to make the list.

Notre Dame has seemed to have figured out their offensive woes that plagued them against South Florida.

They have seemed to figure out how to hold onto a lead late in the game, something that seemed to escape them against Michigan two weeks ago.

If they can put together a winning streak of four to five more games, then yes, put them back into the Top 25.

But to put them back into the Top 25 after one victory is a joke.