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After once again avoiding an upset by the narrowest of margins, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have held steady as the fourth-ranked team in the AP Top 25 Poll this week. The Irish beat the Pittsburgh Panthers, 29-26, in triple overtime, but it required a major comeback as well as a missed game-winning field goal attempt from a previously perfect kicker.
The Alabama Crimson Tide, Oregon Ducks and Kansas St. Wildcats all avoided possible upsets on Saturday, too, leaving the Irish in the same place as last week. With games remaining on the road against Boston College and USC as well as a home match-up against Wake Forest, Notre Dame will likely need to go 12-0 to make the title game.
Rounding out the AP top 5 is the unbeaten Ohio St. Buckeyes team, but they are not bowl eligible this year, because of NCAA violations. The only other Big Ten team in the top 25 is the 18th-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers, although the Michigan Wolverines (28th in votes), Northwestern Wildcats (30th) and Penn St. Nittany Lions (36th) received votes.