Navy’s success thus far has been one of the best stories in college football. But unfortunately for those who like underdogs to spoil the party, Navy’s 51-14 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon exposed the Midshipmen’s 6-0 start to the season.

Navy entered the week ranked 24th in the rankings Associated Press and Coaches Poll and was looking for the school’s first 7-0 start to a season since 1978. Navy was even coming off a blowout victory of its own, beating Charlotte 51-17. There was even hope that Navy could truly become a national contender for the first time in decades — the military academies once owned college football but have been an afterthought during the sport’s modern eras.

Navy’s 6-0 start has generated some hype around hosting a The Notre Dame team that some called overrated as evidenced by their loss to Northern Illinois in Week 2. However, the Fighting Irish quickly popped the ball in that hype and made Navy’s job easy.

In addition to winning the most key categories of the game Like first downs (20 to 17) and total yards (466 to 311), Notre Dame forced five turnovers. There was no doubt as to who was the better team and who was overrated after the match.

And what happened Saturday proves that Navy was simply enjoying an easy schedule while undefeated. Now 6-1, Navy’s six wins have come against Bucknell, Temple, Memphis, UAB, Air Force and the aforementioned Charlotte. Among teams, only Memphis has a winning record. And Memphis (7-1) only a win against a team with a winning record.

It’s safe to say that Navy wouldn’t have been able to get off to a 6-0 start and slide down the rankings if they were facing a more daunting schedule. Fortunately for the Midshipmen, Notre Dame is actually the only major program, or non-Group of 5/FCS school, on Navy’s entire season schedule, so the odds are that the Midshipmen finish with a big total of wins are still quite high.

While it’s always a good story to have a historic program and important institution like Navy eligible for a bowl for the first time in five years, that doesn’t mean the Midshipmen are among college football’s elite and deserve national ranking or consideration for the College Football Playoff.

A look at recent history examines the impact of a calendar in more detail. Those who try to legitimize UCF’s controversial claim to a 2017 national championship and call out the Knights’ undefeated record generally fail to mention that they played a schedule that ranked in the back half of the top 100 in terms difficulty by most media. For example, UCF was ranked 84th in the country for strength of schedule on the ESPN FPI (Football Power Index).

Looking at the landscape in 2017, UCF only played one “Power” schedule, Auburn in the Peach Bowl. The current national champion, Alabama, not only won the College Football Playoff, but was also ranked No. 1 by consensus by most major selectors, played 11 “Power” schools, and beat five teams classified.

Yes, Alabama lost to Auburn, which was beaten by UCF in a bowl game, but there’s no denying that the Crimson Tide endured a tougher schedule and posted a better resume overall .

It’s impossible to have a system that forces every FBS team to play an equally balanced schedule. But that said, examples like UCF in 2017 and Navy and Liberty in 2024 — Liberty was undefeated before embarrassingly falling to previously winless Kennesaw State — show that strength of schedule should still be an important factor in evaluating college football teams.