Category: amway coaches poll

Notre Dame drops in latest in Amway Coaches poll

The final regular season Amway Coaches Poll saw Notre Dame drop a few spots.

Let’s be real, last’s night defeat at the hands of Clemson hurt. It stings, it still does. Losses like these leave a lasting impression, what could have been, where does Notre Dame go next? As we wait to find out where the Irish are placed in the College Football Playoffs rankings, it was still interesting to see where they finished in the final regular season Amway Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports.

Clemson jumped the Irish, moving form No. 3 to No. 2, while the fall for Notre Dame wasn’t that far, ending at No. 4 on the year. With a win in the Big Ten title game over Northwestern, Ohio State is sandwiched between the ACC Championship combatants.

Oklahoma made a leap from No. 10 to No. 7 after defeating Iowa State in the Big XII title game, the Cyclones falling 4 spots to No. 12. No 11 Florida didn’t fall after their thrilling game against No. 1 Alabama in the SEC Championship game, they actually jumped a spot to No. 10.

Here is the latest Amway Coaches Poll, with the ACC teams in bold and last weeks rankings in parenthesis.

1 Alabama (1)

2 Clemson (3)

3 Ohio State (4)

4 Notre Dame (2)

5 Texas A&M (5)

6 Cincinnati (6)

7 Oklahoma (10)

8 Indiana (7)

9 Georgia (9)

10 Florida (11)

11 Coastal Carolina (12)

12 Iowa State (8)

13 Northwestern (14)

14 North Carolina (15)

15 BYU (16)

16 Iowa (17)

17 ULL (18)

18 Miami, FL (19)

19 USC (13)

20 San Jose St. (25)

21 Oklahoma St (22)

22 NC State (23)

23 Liberty (21)

24 Texas (24)

25 Tulsa (20)

Notre Dame ranked behind just Alabama in first College Football Playoff rankings

Just like the AP and Amway Coaches Poll, Notre Dame is ranked behind only Alabama in the initial College Football Playoff Rankings.

As we all expected, Notre Dame is right behind Alabama in the initial College Football Playoff rankings.

The Irish have the nations best win, over No. 3 Clemson, while Ohio State comes in No. 4 to round out the top 4 teams. The ACC is the only conference with two teams inside the top 4.

This year the committee has said they aren’t concerned about number of games played, that’s why you see Ohio State and Northwestern, No. 8, inside the top 10 teams as they hold played significantly less games than the other teams in the top portion of the initial rankings.

In just three days, on Friday afternoon, the Irish are set to visit No. 19 North Carolina, in a game that obviously has big time CFP implications. If the Irish win, it will solidify their ranking, as it will be difficult for the Irish to jump No. 1 Alabama.

It is nice to see recognition from the committee by ranking the Irish No. 2, but the job isn’t finished. Obviously, UNC is next and a potential rematch with No. 3 Clemson in the ACC Championship game could be awaiting Notre Dame as well.

Notre Dame steady in latest Amway Coaches Poll after BC win

In the latest Amway Coaches Poll, Notre Dame has a sturdy hold on their number 2 ranking.

Traveling to Boston after an emotional win against Clemson was going to be difficult, and the Irish obviously started slow, but picked it up by halftime. The final score of 45-31 is a bit misleading, after the first quarter Notre Dame had complete control of the contest. A much deserved bye week await the Irish, as their rankings shouldn’t take at hit at all.

With the updated Amway Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports will show, the Irish are sitting pretty as the No. 2 ranked team in the nation. With No. 1 Alabama, No. 3 Ohio State and No. 6 Texas A&M not playing their games due to COVID-19 issues, No. 4 Clemson having a bye, Notre Dame and No. 5 Florida were the only top 6 school’s to play this weekend.

It should be noted that the Irish lost one of their four votes for number 1 from the previous week.

Looking around the rest of the ACC, No. 9 Miami, FL needed a comeback win while visiting Virginia Tech, North Carolina also came back against Wake Forest with both teams combing to score over 100 points and NC State continued Florida State’s misery.

Here is the updated Amway Coaches Poll, with ACC teams in bold and last weeks rankings in parentheses.

1 Alabama (1)

2 Notre Dame (2)

3 Ohio State (3)

4 Clemson (4)

5 Florida (5)

6 Texas A&M (6)

7 Cincinnati (7)

8 BYU (8)

9 Miami, FL (9)

10 Indiana (10)

11 Georgia (11)

12 Wisconsin (14)

13 Oregon (12)

14 Oklahoma St (13)

15 Marshall (15)

16 Iowa St. (16)

17 Oklahoma (18)

18 Coastal Carolina (17)

19 USC (20)

20 Northwestern (23)

21 Auburn (21)

22 Liberty (22)

23 Texas (24)

24 North Carolina (NR)

25 Louisiana-Lafayette (NR)

Dropped out: No. 19 Southern Methodist, No. 25 Army

No Big Ten or Pac-12, Irish should move up in Top 25 rankings

With two power-conferences opting out of the 2020 fall football season, Notre Dame should see their pre-season ranking improve.

With the announcement that the Big Ten and Pac-12 will not play fall football, there will be changes to many preseason rankings. When the Amway Coaches poll powered by USA Today Sports dropped eleven days ago the Irish were ranked 10th but was prior to two conferences bowing out.

Now there are just three major conferences playing football in the fall, the SEC, Big XII and ACC, there will be movement within the rankings. 247Sports repolled their experts and came up with new rankings and the Irish are just outside the top 5, ranked 6th overall.

Chris Hummer, who put together the piece, sees one huge hurdle for Notre Dame this season, their potential two games against the Clemson Tigers. He said “you could strongly argue the schedule got easier for the Irish. But … they’ll have to play Clemson twice in order to reach the CFB Playoff.” The Tigers are a huge challenge for any team and having to match-up against them twice in one season is a daunting task. They are ranked as 247Sports top team in their updated preseason rankings.

Let’s look at the positives Hummer takes note of, the arrival of “some exciting impact freshman (Chris Tyree, Jordan Johnson) who can help right away. The offensive line will be strength as always, especially with Tommy Kraemer and Robert Hainsey returning from injury.” Hummer did forget about 5-Star Michael Mayer, who along with Tyree and Johnson should make a formidable trio of true-freshman stars.

On defense there is hope as Hummer says “you have to trust defensive coordinator Clark Lea, though. He’s put together back-to-back top 15 defenses. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Kyle Hamilton give Lea two start (I think he meant star) defenders to shape the unit around.”

Looking at the rest of the opponents on the slate, the Irish will face the 12th ranked North Carolina Tar Heels, the 17th ranked Louisville Cardinals, and the 24th ranked Pittsburgh Panthers. The expectations for Brian Kelly’s Fighting Irish are high in this very odd season. Expect a very fun one-off year of ACC action.

Where Notre Dame ranks in 2020 preseason Amway Coaches poll powered by USA TODAY Sports

The preseason Amway Coaches poll is out. Where does Notre Dame and their opponents for 2020 rank? Find out here!

What a day.

First we get Notre Dame’s 2020 football schedule finally released, we have to say goodbye to the Navy game for the first time in almost a century and now we have a sure-sign of the dog days of summer and college football approaching as the Amway Coaches poll powered by USA TODAY Sports has been released.

Who gets the No. 1 ranking?  Where does Notre Dame come in?  And where do Notre Dame’s opponents for 2020 check-in?

It’s all below:

Preseason Amway Coaches Poll:

  1.  Clemson
    2.  Ohio State
    3.  Alabama
    4.  Georgia
    5.  LSU
    6.  Oklahoma
    7.  Penn State
    8.  Florida
    9.  Oregon
    10.  Notre Dame
    11.  Auburn
    12.  Wisconsin
    13.  Texas A&M
    14.  Texas
    15.  Michigan
    16.  Oklahoma State
    17.  USC
    18.  Minnesota
    19.  North Carolina
    20.  Utah
    21.  UCF
    22.  Cincinnati
    23.  Iowa
    24.  Virginia Tech
    25.  Iowa State

Notre Dame sneaks into the top ten and is scheduled to face two teams appearing in the preseason top 25:  No.1 Clemson and No. 19 North Carolina.

If ranked No. 1 on November 7, Clemson will be the first top-ranked team in the nation to come to Notre Dame Stadium since USC in the famed 2005 “Bush Push” game.

Notre Dame will kickoff the 2020 season when they play host to unranked Duke on September 12.

Latest Amway Coaches Poll: Does Notre Dame Move Up?

After a 40-7 drubbing of Boston College on Senior Day, Notre Dame moved to 9-2 on the season with only Stanford remaining next weekend. With only Oregon and Penn State losing ahead of the Irish, was it enough to move them up from the No. 15 spot …

After a 40-7 drubbing of Boston College on Senior Day, Notre Dame moved to 9-2 on the season with only Stanford remaining next weekend.

With only Oregon and Penn State losing ahead of the Irish, was it enough to move them up from the No. 15 spot they sat in last week?  The latest Amway Coaches Poll Powered by USA Today is out and your answer is unfortunately, no.

Latest Amway Coaches Poll:

  1. LSU
  2. Ohio State
  3. Clemson
  4. Georgia
  5. Alabama
  6. Utah
  7. Oklahoma
  8. Florida
  9. Minnesota
  10. Baylor
  11. Michigan
  12. Penn State
  13. Oregon
  14. Wisconsin
  15. Notre Dame
  16. Auburn
  17. Cincinnati
  18. Memphis
  19. Boise State
  20. Iowa
  21. Oklahoma State
  22. Appalachian State
  23. Virginia Tech
  24. Navy
  25. Southern California

What might be the biggest takeaways here for Notre Dame isn’t that they didn’t move from 15, but that Virginia Tech, Navy and Southern California all are now ranked.

If that holds true with the College Football Playoff Committee who releases their rankings Tuesday night, Notre Dame having three wins over top 25 teams may be enough on the resume to lift them from their No. 16 ranking.