Once again, the college football world is seeing another way too early Top 25,this time by the USA Today. It has become fairly obvious that the Irish are among the best teams in the nation and they have been ranked accordingly.
Checking in at 10th overall in the country, Brian Kelly’s team has the makings of one that can make a run for a final four spot in the College Football Playoff. The USA Today notes that the goal is to win a national championship, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Since the inception of the CFP in the 2014-15 season, only 4 schools have been crowned champions: Ohio State and LSU winning it once, Alabama and Clemson each owning two titles.
It seems like the USA Today has narrowed in on the offense for the Irish, as they questioned if Tommy Rees at such a young age, 27, could lead the offense to the promise land. When Rees took over for Chip Long before the Camping World Bowl many wondered what the offense would look like with a new leader. Rees led the offense to 33 points, with QB Ian Book going 20/28 for 247 yards, a TD and no interceptions. Tony Jones Jr. went off for 135 yards on just 11 carries and WR Chase Claypool benefited from Book’s good day with 7 receptions and 146 yards with the lone TD through the air. Although the offense put up plenty of points, there will still be some questions regarding how Rees will call an entire season when teams get a more advance look at what concepts he likes to deploy. A spring game would have been huge for Rees’ development as the play caller.
Although there are some questions for Notre Dame going into the 2020 season, not many teams don’t, there are some very encouraging signs. The whole offensive line returns, sack leader Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah returns for what could be a huge junior year, leading tackler LB Drew White is also back, and a reworked secondary has plenty of weapons. The Irish are poised to be a Top 10 team entering 2020 and the USA Today’s ranking once again confirms that.