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.