Newsstand: Notre Dame lands at No. 14 in ESPN’s preseason power rankings
Notre Dame landed at No. 14 in ESPN’s preseason power rankings, which came out Wednesday evening.
ESPN placed the Irish behind Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama, LSU, USC, Florida State, Penn State, Clemson, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and Utah, respectively. Notre Dame, who ranks 13th in both the AP and USA TODAY American Football Coaches Association polls, came in just ahead of Oregon, TCU and Kansas State.
ESPN senior writer and national college football insider Heather Dinich wrote what she believes are the realistic best and worst-case scenarios for the Irish in 2023. The ideal outcome for Notre Dame, Dinich wrote, is an 11-1 record and an appearance in the College Football Playoff.
“Notre Dame has a chance to go from good to great with transfer quarterback Sam Hartman leading the offense,” Dinich said. “Hartman, though, never defeated Clemson in three tries as Wake Forest’s starting quarterback. That game is Nov. 4 at Clemson, and the Tigers could be playing for a spot in the CFP.”
On the other side, Dinich’s worst realistic result to Notre Dame’s season is a 9-3 record with losses in each of the “big three” games: Ohio State, USC and Clemson.
“It IS only [Notre Dame coach Marcus] Freeman’s second season — and this team has something to prove after losses to Marshall and Stanford last year,” Dinich said. “The offense features one of the best offensive lines and a talented group of running backs, but there were multiple staff moves, including the internal promotion of tight ends coach Gerad Parker to offensive coordinator. To be a complete CFP contender, the Irish will need to be more dominant on their defensive line, particularly against Ohio State.”
Notre Dame opens its season against Navy at 2:30 p.m. ET on Aug. 26 at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.
Notre Dame tweets of the day
Irish men’s basketball target Malachi Moreno will be at the Ohio State game.
Freshman walk-on receiver Jordan Faison showed something in fall camp.
Irish sophomore cornerback Jaden Mickey has some serious hops.
Quote of the day
“My wife talked me into going skiing this past winter. … It was a bumpy road, as we call it. And at some point I needed to tell the instructor, ‘Let me figure this thing out.’ And that is a parallel to what it’s like in your first season of coaching. You can look at every blueprint, you can have every former coach try to give you an opinion. But until you actually go and do it, there’s challenges that you don’t know on the horizon.”
— Marcus Freeman on learning from his first year as a college football head coach
Headlines of the day
Why RB Jeremiyah Love can give the Irish a boost as a true freshmanFour-star Florida LB Ethan Pritchard picking up phone calls from two Notre Dame coachesEverything Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said on SportsCenter with Scott Van PeltWhy you shouldn’t forget about Jaden Mickey in the Notre Dame CB roomNine days until Notre Dame football: Examining a packed September slateWhy four-star guard/forward Sir Mohammed committed to Notre DameMike vs. Kyle: Which 2025 recruit can make a move on Notre Dame football’s board?Q&A with Notre Dame WR commit Cam Williams: On3 NIL event, senior season, recent visit, more
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