Preseason Rankings

As the season quickly approaches, an abundance of preseason polls and power rankings have emerged. Here is a quick recap:

USA Today Poll - #23

I believe this is a great position for the Irish to start the season. Not over-hyped, but not overlooked. This location in the Top 25 gives the Irish notoriety to start the season, and forces their on-field performance to enhance and justify their ranking. This is first preseason ranking for the Irish since they started the 2006 season ranked #3. Taking a glance at ranked Irish opponents: USC (#4), Michigan State (#27), Pittsburgh (#30), Nevada (#41), Boston College (#50), Navy (#55), Michigan (#59). With seven of twelve opponents receiving votes, maybe the Irish schedule isn’t as easy as advertised.

ESPN Power Rankings - #18

This comes as a surprise to me. Sportswriters, particularly those at ESPN, love to annually write about the lost tradition of Notre Dame Football, how the Irish are over hyped and often under perform. Furthermore, if you look at the breakdown of the fifteen voters, ND received votes from as high as #11 to unranked, which is an immense spread. The #11 ranking was courtesy of Ivan Maisel. Pat Forde, who notoriously penned Tyrone Willingham as the “Scourge of Humanity” and an avid ND hater, gave the Irish a #15 ranking. The unranked vote came from Chris Low, ESPN’s SEC blogger. No surprise there as he stuck to his guns with his SEC bias, ranking SEVEN SEC teams in his top 25, including FOUR in the Top Ten. What a shocker!

-DH