Upset Alert: 5 college football teams in danger of losing in Week 12

4. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Rank: 16 | Opponent: 23 Navy Midshipmen | Time: Saturday, Nov. 16, 2:30 p.m. ET

Can anyone explain why the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are still the No. 16 team in the College Football Playoff rankings other than the name brand of their program? Outside of a bounce-back win against Virginia — who, let’s be honest, is not an elite team — the Irish have been almost wholly unimpressive since their loss at Georgia on Sept. 21.

Over that time span, Ian Book and the Irish have narrowly beaten USC at home, got demolished by Michigan at the Big House in a muddy game, just escaped against a decidedly mediocre Virginia Tech group and then beat up on a bad Duke team last week. Put in the simplest terms, there is nothing that Notre Dame has done this season to make me believe that they are anything more than a good football team that is substantially removed from the great and elite tiers.

On Saturday, the Navy Midshipmen come to South Bend and they’ll be looking to prove just that. After cracking the top 25 at No. 23, the 7-1 Midshipmen could make a tremendous statement in Week 12 if they could pull off an upset victory over Notre Dame. Navy’s lone loss on the season came against a very talented Memphis squad but they have largely been dominant otherwise.

Whenever a high-profile program team faces a triple-option offense, which Navy obviously runs, it’s a dangerous proposition. And the Midshipmen have been exceptionally dangerous in that attack with quarterback Malcolm Perry leading the charge. And if Navy can play up to their potential on defense as they’ve allowed just 18.1 points per game this year, the Midshipmen could prove just how average the Fighting Irish are in 2019.