NCAAF teams
Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer 9y

Welcome to the one-loss club, Irish

College Football, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Alabama Crimson Tide, Florida State Seminoles, Oregon Ducks, TCU Horned Frogs, Kansas State Wildcats, Georgia Bulldogs, Michigan State Spartans, Ole Miss Rebels, Mississippi State Bulldogs

If there was any doubt about Brian Kelly's place as an elite coach and Notre Dame's place as an elite team, it vanished into the Tallahassee night.

The Fighting Irish left Doak Campbell Stadium in defeat, but they stood on level ground with the heavily favored, insanely talented national champions -- on the road, right until the final seconds. And if two receivers had been a little slicker with their pick attempts, Notre Dame might have slayed mighty Florida State.

"We don't coach illegal plays," Kelly said afterward.

Most of the legal plays Kelly called worked masterfully against the Seminoles. He made the right in-game decisions, including a punt midway through the fourth quarter that returned the ball to a scalding-hot Jameis Winston. Notre Dame's defense, one of the nation's most surprising units, held firm, and quarterback Everett Golson led the Irish to the threshold of victory only to fall just short.

The next step for Kelly is arguably even tougher than game planning for Florida State on the road. But it's also a task he's more than capable of completing. He must lift the spirits of his players, prevent a letdown and restore belief that all of Notre Dame's goals, including a national championship, are still on the table.

Kelly also has some help, should he need it. There's a blueprint to responding to adversity that others have followed in this most unique of seasons, when one loss, especially one like Notre Dame's at Florida State, isn't the death knell.

Several one-loss teams showed Notre Dame how it's done in Week 8.

TCU easily could have slow-dragged against Oklahoma State after squandering a lead in the most un-TCU-like way the week before at Baylor. Instead, Gary Patterson's defense held the Cowboys without a touchdown -- Oklahoma State's first TD-less performance since 2009 -- and racked up 42 points, 26 first downs and a staggering 676 yards. Quarterback Trevone Boykin showed no ill effects from his left wrist injury and passed for a career-high 410 yards.

By avoiding a hangover, TCU helped put itself back in the Big 12 driver's seat after Baylor came out flat against West Virginia and lost.

Patterson isn't the only defensive-minded coach who made a statement Saturday. While Nick Saban's offense, under fire after Alabama's loss to Ole Miss and its 14-13 win at Arkansas, got its groove back, the Tide defense did what many thought to be impossible: shut out a Kevin Sumlin-coached team. Arguably, no team had done more in recent years to create cracks -- real or perceived -- in Saban's foundation than Texas A&M. But without Johnny Manziel, the Aggies had no chance in a 59-0 loss. Even Johnny probably would have had a rough day in T-Town.

The last time we saw Kansas State on the national stage, the Wildcats were kicking themselves after missing three field goals in a Week 3 home loss to Auburn. But Bill Snyder refused to let the low mood linger, and the Wildcats blew out UTEP and Texas Tech before visiting Oklahoma on Saturday. This time, they benefited from the #collegekicker curse, as Oklahoma's Michael Hunnicutt missed a 19-yard attempt in crunch time.

"We were just lucky," Snyder said. "It happens."

It happened only because Snyder didn't let his team veer off course. Kansas State is now right back into the Big 12, and playoff, mix.

Week 8 also brought reiterations that both Georgia and Oregon are back on track. Mark Richt's team improved to 2-0 without suspended star Todd Gurley, piling up 45 points and 207 rush yards against Arkansas. Gurley's absence could have shaken the Dawgs. Instead, it has strengthened them. Oregon, meanwhile, looks like itself again with Jake Fisher back anchoring the offensive line. Mark Helfrich's team made quick work of a talented Washington defense, overwhelming the Huskies in a 45-20 win.

Kelly now must take the same route with his team as it enters a bye week. Notre Dame plays three of its final five games on the road, including trips to both Arizona State and USC. The Irish showed Saturday night that they can handle anyone, anywhere, but they can't let up.

They're now part of the one-loss club, one that includes all but three Power 5 teams (Florida State, Mississippi State and Ole Miss). It's not the worst place to be. If the Irish stick around through the end of November, they could join an even better group on selection day.


Four teams in

1. Florida State: The Seminoles, the defending national champions, cleared their biggest hurdle on Saturday night toward winning a second straight title, barely surviving in a 31-27 win over No. 5 Notre Dame at home. They should have a clear path to the ACC championship game.

2. Mississippi State: After beating top-10 opponents in three consecutive games, the Bulldogs finally got a break in their schedule. Mississippi State plays at Kentucky next week.

3. Ole Miss: The Rebels continued to flex their muscles on defense in a 34-3 victory over Tennessee on Saturday, holding the Volunteers to only 191 yards of offense -- zero rushing -- and forcing four turnovers.

4. Oregon: We'll go with the Ducks as the top one-loss team after they rolled Washington 45-20 on Saturday night. Oregon still has one of the most impressive victories (46-27 over Michigan State on Sept. 6) and was missing two key offensive linemen in its only loss (31-24 to Arizona on Oct. 2).

Next four in contention

1. Alabama: After a less-than-spectacular win at Arkansas a week ago, the Crimson Tide crushed reeling Texas A&M 59-0 on Saturday. The Crimson Tide certainly pass the eye-ball test, but their overall résumé still lacks meat.

2. Georgia: Playing without suspended star tailback Todd Gurley for the second week in a row, the Bulldogs won on the road for the second straight time. Georgia defeated Arkansas 45-32 in a game that really wasn't that close.

3. Auburn: The Tigers didn't exactly look like a playoff-caliber team in their last game, a 38-23 loss at Mississippi State on Oct. 11. But Auburn's victories over then-No. 20 Kansas State on the road and then-No. 15 LSU at home look a lot better than they did a couple of weeks ago.

4. Notre Dame: The Irish went nose-to-nose with the defending national champions and might have won if not for an offensive pass interference penalty that wiped out what would have been the winning touchdown. The only problem: Notre Dame has one victory over a Top 25 team -- 17-14 over then-No. 14 Stanford on Oct. 4. 

Heisman Trophy candidates

1. Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon: Mariota completed 24 of 33 passes for 336 yards with two touchdowns in the victory over Washington. Mariota has thrown 19 touchdowns and hasn't been intercepted in 188 pass attempts in seven games. 

2. Jameis Winston, QB, Florida State: Winston, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, completed 23 of 31 passes for 273 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in the win over Notre Dame. He is now 21-0 as a starter at FSU.

3. Amari Cooper, WR, Alabama: Cooper caught eight passes for 140 yards with two touchdowns in the Tide's rout of the Aggies. He has 12 100-yard receiving games in his career, one behind the school record set by D.J. Hall from 2004-07.

4. Ameer Abdullah, RB, Nebraska: Abdullah bounced back from a rough outing against Michigan State two weeks ago, running 23 times for 146 yards with four touchdowns in a 38-17 win at Northwestern.

By the numbers

1. 7: Touchdown passes thrown by USC quarterback Cody Kessler in Saturday's 56-28 win over Colorado. Kessler set a USC single-game record for touchdown passes and became the first Pac-12 quarterback to throw seven in the first three quarters of a game..

2. 215: Penalty yards for Baylor in its loss at West Virginia, the most in school and Big 12 history. The Bears were penalized 18 times, the second-most in a Big 12 game..

3. 202: Rushing yards for Georgia freshman Nick Chubb in Saturday's 45-32 win at Arkansas. He is the third UGA freshman to run for more than 200 yards in a game, joining Herschel Walker and Rodney Hampton..

4. 39: Consecutive games in which Marshall's Rakeem Cato has thrown a touchdown pass, breaking the FBS record set by Russell Wilson at NC State and Wisconsin from 2009-12. Cato threw for 214 yards with four touchdowns in Saturday's 45-13 win over FIU.

Best quotes

1. "This team has heart, it has soul, it's a family. It believes in each other, it sticks together and there's something special in this group of guys." -- Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher.

2. "No, I don't think I've lost them. But, however you cut it, that performance was unacceptable and embarrassing. I think Alabama had a lot to do with that, but we've got to get back to work and examine where we are right now." - Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin

3. "Holding Baylor to 318 yards on [79 plays] is not something I thought we would be able to do. We were just not going to let them sit back in the pocket and just throw it to an open space like they did last year." - West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen

4. "The youngster that missed the field goal [Oklahoma's Michael Hunnicutt], he will go another hundred years without missing another field goal. So we were just lucky. That happens. The other one, we deserved to block it," Kansas State coach Bill Snyder after Hunnicutt missed a late 19-yard field goal and had an extra point blocked.

Best plays

1. West Virginia's Kevin White made a leaping 36-yard touchdown catch in the Mountaineers' upset of Baylor.

2. Notre Dame's Corey Robinson, the son of former San Antonio Spurs star David Robinson, leaped high to pull in a 9-yard touchdown pass from Everett Golson in the first half at Florida State.

3. Maryland coach Randy Edsall might have made the catch of the day in the Terrapins' 38-31 win over Iowa.

4. Ohio State's Evan Spencer hauls in an 11-yard touchdown pass from J.T. Barrett with one hand in a 56-17 rout of Rutgers.

Worst plays

1. Oklahoma's Michael Hunnicutt, one of the country's most consistent kickers, shanked a 19-yard field goal wide left in the final minutes of the No. 11 Sooners' 31-30 loss at No. 14 Kansas State. He also had a game-tying extra point blocked.

2. Tulane quarterback Nick Montana, son of NFL Hall of Famer Joe Montana, spiked the ball near the end of the first half (on fourth down!) in Saturday's 20-13 loss at UCF.

3. An official flagged a Maryland player for removing his helmet "in disgust."

4. Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel threw a pick-six to Missouri's Darvin Ruise in the third quarter of Saturday night's ugly 42-13 loss at the Swamp. The Tigers also returned a kickoff, punt and fumble for scores against the Gators.

Tweets of the day

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Mark Schlabach contributed to this story.

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