Notre Dame and BYU are both 7-1, and BYU beat Notre Dame 28-24 on Oct. 17. The new AP poll has Notre Dame No. 4 and BYU No. 7.

Here’s the part that gets me. Notre Dame was No. 4 when it opened the season against Wisconsin on Sept. 6. Eight games and one loss later, the Irish are… No. 4. They actually moved up a spot this week, from 5 to 4, after beating 2-6 Navy 35-13. Check the AP Top 25 yourself.

Look at the wins: Wisconsin, Rice, Michigan State, Purdue, North Carolina, Stanford and Navy. Wisconsin is the one everybody points to, and Wisconsin got shut out 30-0 at Iowa on Saturday. The only ranked team Notre Dame has played is BYU, and that’s the one it lost.

To be fair to the Irish, BYU has a bad loss too: 39-31 at UCF on Oct. 24. That’s why this is close. But when two teams have the same record, the game they played against each other should settle it. It’s November. Rank teams on who they’ve beaten, not where they started in August.

Good news: both of them get a real test Saturday. Notre Dame hosts No. 1 Miami, and BYU goes to No. 3 Utah. Win that one and you’ve earned the spot. No argument from me.

The College Football Playoff committee releases its first rankings Tuesday night, and right after that we drop The Correct Top 10. Where would you put these two, Faders? Tell me on X or Instagram at @fiveandafade.

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Jeremy Durham is a sports columnist for TriStar Daily and the founder of Five and a Fade.