PRESEASON TOP-25: Notre Dame Has Top-11/12 Perch For Plausibility Run, Perhaps Not a National Title Run
Notre Dame’s preseason #11/12 ranking should be enough of a perch for them to attempt what has become an annual Road to Plausibility. (By comparison, it might be a little hard to think of Notre Dame making a would-be “national title run” since, according to the official record books at least, they have not made a national title run for a quarter-century.)
Meanwhile, their quasi-solid, quasi-soft schedule includes five respectable opponents starting out in either the top-15 (Stanford, Michigan and Southern Cal), or lower in the top-20 (Florida State and Virginia Tech), as well as unranked Northwestern also receiving votes in one poll. However, there are no elite top-10 opponents, at least in the opening rankings.
The middling schedule could leave Notre Dame in a bit of a hole if they get upset by Michigan in the season opener and drop like a stone while half the country wins. They do not have another ranked opponent until the end of September, and the lack of more elite opponents would not give them as strong an argument to climb back up the rankings later. However, if their goal is simply to portray themselves as plausible, and “part of the deal” — and tolerate a decade of a head coach who has never won a major bowl game — then the rankings and their schedule should be enough to provide opportunities to make another good faith run to stay at least mildly plausible in the top-25.
(first-place votes in parentheses)
(Notre Dame opponents marked in dark blue)
AP
1 – Alabama (42)
2 – Clemson (18)
3 – Georgia
4 – Wisconsin (1)
5 – Ohio State
6 – Washington
7 – Oklahoma
8 – Miami
9 – Auburn
10 – Penn State
11 – Michigan State
12 – Notre Dame
13 – Stanford
14 – Michigan
15 – USC
16 – TCU
17 – West Virginia
18 – Mississippi State
19 – Florida State
20 – Virginia Tech
21 – UCF
22 – Boise State
23 – Texas
24 – Oregon
25 – LSU
Others receiving votes: South Carolina, Florida, Utah, Oklahoma State, Florida Atlantic, Arizona, NC State, Texas A&M, Boston College, Northwestern, Kansas State, Iowa State, Houston, Memphis, Iowa, Troy, Fresno State, Arkansas State, Kentucky
Coaches Poll
1 – Alabama(61)
2 – Clemson(3)
3 – Ohio State(1)
4 – Georgia
5 – Oklahoma
6 – Washington
7 – Wisconsin
8 – Miami
9 – Penn State
10 – Auburn
11 – Notre Dame
12 – Michigan State
13 – Stanford
14 – Michigan
15 – USC
16 – TCU
17 – Virginia Tech
18 – Mississippi State
19 – Florida State
20 – West Virginia
21 – Texas
22 – Boise State
23 – UCF
24 – LSU
25 – Oklahoma State
Others receiving votes: South Carolina, Florida, Oregon, Utah, Texas A&M, Northwestern, Kansas State, Florida Atlantic, Memphis, Boston College, NC State, Arkansas State, Troy, Appalachian State, San Diego State, Kentucky, Iowa State, Iowa, Washington State, South Florida, Duke, Fresno State, Louisville, Arizona, Houston, Army, Northern Illinois
Notre Dame’s would-be national title run in Brian Kelly’s third season, 2012, of course, ended in a blowout loss. Yet it also was wiped from the history books by the NCAA, although Notre Dame themselves seems to have difficulty parsing that reality, if one looks at how the latest media guide handles it. Notre Dame turned out to have failed to adequately police a coed tutor and some academically dishonest players. Yet the institution additionally, apparently somewhat obliviously, botched how they handled their own university disciplinary process and its repercussions, teeing it up for the NCAA to point out that that it was the institution itself that had de facto declared the retroactive ineligibility.
So, despite period anachronistic PR about playing for national championships, Notre Dame’s unspoken goal appears to be to be playing for plausibility — to be just enough a part of the gang to justify the big money revenue and not shuffle out of the college football picture entirely. The preseason #11/12 ranking, and a smattering of top-20 opponents might be just enough to “keep hope eternal” and pretend to be “part of the deal.”
