Fighting Irish fans boast playoff like energy inside the house Rockne built

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Fighting Irish fans waking up Sunday after what fans are calling the most refreshing win they've seen from the green and gold, with playoff aspirations on the horizon.

As of Sunday, Notre Dame now sits at #3 in both the AP top 25 and AFCA coaches' polls, putting them behind #1 Georgia Bulldogs and #2 Utah Utes.

But fans will have to wait until Tuesday, November 10th for the official college football playoff rankings, to see whether they move up from their current eleventh position.

For a couple of Fighting Irish fans on Saturday night, the energy inside the house that Rockne built was foreshadowing a possible home CFP game.

"Oh, monumental," Mark Murphy said. "It's huge for this season. Huge playoff implication for sure."

"I think it's just energy, and you know what's on the line, right," Jaryd Widup said. "Like this is a win or you're out, right? They made that pretty clear, putting us at 11 in the playoffs, and obviously you know we came out there and we showed that we deserve to be in this playoff. So glad we did that."

The Fighting Irish have three games remaining on their 2026 schedule with Boston College and SMU coming to South Bend, then for the season finale they will head up to Syracuse.