Tag: 2021 football

USA TODAY’s 2021 early Top 25

Just how good might Notre Dame be in 2021 after losing a ton of talent? USA TODAY offered their opinion on exactly that today.

On nights like Monday, you wonder if Alabama will ever lose again as long as Nick Saban remains heading the Crimson Tide football team as they routed their way to their sixth national championship in the last 12 seasons.

To the surprise of nobody, when USA TODAY released their early top 25 for the 2021 college football season on Tuesday, Alabama, despite losing a ton of talent to the NFL, still check-in at number one.

But what you’re probably wondering is where exactly Notre Dame falls.

The Irish sneak into the back half of the top 10, coming eighth.

Between No. 1 Alabama and No. 8 Notre Dame are the following:

2. Georgia

3. Oklahoma

4. Clemson

5. Ohio State

6. Iowa State

7. Texas A&M

Georgia is doing the Mack Brown pre-2005 thing recently, winning the recruiting rankings national championship annually but not getting over the hump yet.  Mainstays Oklahoma, Clemson, and Ohio State round out the top five while Iowa State and Texas A&M sit at six and seven.

What Notre Dame at eight means to me is the respect they currently have as a program as the Irish have one of the nation’s best offensive lines, their veteran quarterback, two leading receivers, the best linebacker award winner, and plenty else.

Yet there Brian Kelly’s Notre Dame squad is there at eight.

My question for Notre Dame fans is knowing what you know about how much needs replaced and how things ended with blowout losses to Clemson and Alabama, would you sign up for finishing eighth in the final rankings next season?

My off-season bar is set at a team that should win nine games and could win 10, but one that I’d be pleasantly shocked if they actually made a legitimate run at another College Football Playoff appearance.

With that in mind, yes, I’d be thrilled with another top ten finish for Notre Dame entering this kind of off-season.

Where did Notre Dame opponents rank on the list?

9. Cincinnati

11. North Carolina

14. Wisconsin

17. USC

Related: Early look at Notre Dame’s 2021 football schedule

A counterpoint on Jack Coan and Notre Dame in 2021

When grading what Notre Dame got in transfer quarterback Jack Coan you have to be realistic about how 2021 sets up for the Irish.

Huge news was made Monday night when former Wisconsin quarterback Jack Coan announced he was transferring to Notre Dame.

Our colleague at BadgersWire, Ben Kenney, did a great piece on why Notre Dame fans should be excited about their likely 2021 starting quarterback while our very own Mike Chen got out his wettest blanket and threw it on Fighting Irish fans everywhere.  Although plenty across the social media world have felt the same as Mike in terms of the Coan announcement.

As is the case in most things in life, I find myself in-between the two extremes from Ben and Mike.

What is important to remember about Coan is that the 2021 Notre Dame football team that he’ll be favored to be the starting quarterback for, is that the Irish appear set up for a bit of a rebuild.

2017 was the turning of an awful 2016 page and each year since then has been a bit of a progression in terms of expectation.  2017 was being a threat to make the College Football Playoff while 2018 saw the Irish get over the hump and qualify.

2019 and 2020 were both seasons Notre Dame entered with CFP expectations as they made it this year.

Notre Dame will enter 2021 with essentially an entire offensive line to replace, a new starting quarterback, and big unknowns at receiver.  Pretty much the only known strength of the offense will be at, surprise-surprise, tight end.

Defensively there are holes to fill at all levels, but none bigger than finding someone to step in for Butkus Award winner Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.  Depth in the secondary remains a concern while the defensive line again seems productive players needing to be replaced.

Before you think doomsday and that Notre Dame is screwed in 2021 you have to look at their schedule and realize that despite the questions and issues, they’ll likely be favored in 10 or so of their 12 games, based solely on where the health of the program and recruiting of late.

What Coan does is bridge that gap between Ian Book and the future which most want to belong to incoming freshman Tyler Buchner.  Instead of handing the keys to the Ferrari to a quarterback with no college experience and who didn’t get to play a senior high school season, Coan brings a solid background and skillset to the most important position on the field.

Instead of the rebuild going the route of the 2007 Notre Dame season where Jimmy Clausen and company were inexperienced and overmatched, think of Coan in that regard as a better version of Evan Sharpley.

And then think instead of a scaled-up level of talent around him than Sharpley ever had, and you’ll see why a good amount of wins will still be there to be had.

That doesn’t solve the problem for Notre Dame in the future, as if everything goes according to plan then Buchner, Brendon Clark, and Dew Pyne will all still be pretty inexperienced entering 2022 too, but at least they’ll all have another year in the system before likely earning the starting spot.

If your thought is “National Championship or Bust!” for Notre Dame in 2021 then I understand why you’re not thrilled about the Coan move, but if those are your expectations I’d strongly advise you to scale them back a bit based on the departing talent.

But if you’re one that thinks Notre Dame just simply needs to win a New Year’s Six bowl game and learn to essentially jog on the big stage before it can sprint with the big dogs, then Coan solidifies an incredibly important position and gives the Irish a realistic chance to do exactly that, having guided Wisconsin to near Rose Bowl victory in the 2019 season.