Greater Sayville coverage is funded in part by The Shed, your scratch kitchen for brunch and dinner daily at 21 Main St. in West Sayville.
This story has been updated to reflect the result of the Oregon-Utah game played Saturday night.
Jack Coan and Notre Dame sent a loud and clear message to the College Football Playoff selection committee on Saturday.
It came in the form of a 55-0 spanking of Georgia Tech at home on Senior Day in front of a jubilant capacity crowd of nearly 81,000 fans. Coan of Sayville had his best day in a Fighting Irish uniform, completing 15 of 20 passes for 285 yards and two touchdowns — while playing only the first half. The Irish led 45-0 at halftime.
Notre Dame (10-1) came into the weekend ranked No. 8 in the CFP Rankings, but could have arguably been ranked as high as No. 6.
In fact, both the AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll have had the Irish at No. 6 for the last two weeks — the top four ranked teams will make the playoffs. Considering No. 4 Ohio State crushed No. 7 Michigan State, 56-7, and No. 3 Oregon suffered its second loss in blowout fashion to Utah, Notre Dame should expect to move up at least two slots.
Two other one-loss teams are ahead of Notre Dame with just two weeks left in the season. No. 6 Michigan (10-1) dominated in its win over Maryland on Saturday, while No. 2 Alabama (10-1) struggled in its 42-35 victory over Arkansas.
Michigan’s only loss came to Michigan State. Alabama’s lone defeat was to No. 16 Texas A&M. And the Irish lost to No. 5 Cincinnati, who remain undefeated. Undefeated Georgia has been No. 1 for several weeks.
Notre Dame’s final game of the season is Saturday, Nov. 27, at Stanford. Earlier in the week — Tuesday about 7 p.m. — the next College Football Playoff rankings will be revealed on ESPN.
The Irish were operating on all cylinders at home Saturday afternoon against the Yellow Jackets, amassing more than 500 yards on offense and scoring two touchdowns on defense. Notre Dame’s defense yielded just 3.6 yards per play.
Coan’s first touchdown pass, 52 yards to Michael Mayer, put the Irish up 24-0 late in the first quarter. Check out the play below.
The Wisconsin graduate transfer’s second touchdown strike came midway through the second quarter and put the Irish up 38-0.
Top photo: Twitter/@NDFootball
