Notre Dame Preseason Rankings All Over The Place
In days of yore, Sports Illustrated's College Football Preview was a significant signal of football fever reaching a crescendo and not far from kickoff.
Today, a plethora of print outlets already are on the newsstands by June, and dozens of digital/Internet sites also make their way into the consciousness for those who need a football fix from January through July.
Maybe it’s the tingle of nostalgia which takes me back to my youth, but I still enjoy seeing the SI edition in the mailbox that previews the college football season. When it arrived yesterday (Aug. 10), my guess that Notre Dame would be ranked between 10 to 15 was off when the Fighting Irish were placed at No. 16, with No. 12 Stanford and No. 15 Michigan the lone 2018 opponents — September home games at Notre Dame — ahead of them (Florida State on Nov. 10, also at home, was No. 18 among only 20 teams ranked, with USC not making the cut).
However, a couple of items were perplexing in the most emphasized section titled “Opposing Coach’s Take” where an anonymous coaching foe gives his analysis of the Irish.
The offense part was okay in which he described senior Brandon Wimbush as “one of the best running quarterbacks in the country” and the problems defenses are going to have containing him. He also cited the mismatch problems junior wideout Chase Claypool can provide in the red zone.
However, when he talked about the defense, he referred to senior safety Nick Coleman as “the anchor” among the nine starters returning. In fact, Coleman was the lone Notre Dame player pictured in the feature.
After starting 13 games last season, Coleman fell down the depth chart this spring but has been enjoying a fine August to potentially work himself back into a starting role. However, there are at least a half-dozen others on defense who could have been cited as the crucial anchor.
Of special teams, the coach noted how “they’ve won games based on special teams alone.”
That might be news to many Fighting Irish faithful … unless he was referring back to the 2000 season in which special teams carried the team to a 9-3 ledger, or even the Lou Holtz era from 1986-96.
Finally, in the X-factor section, the honor went to senior running back Dexter Williams: “With QB Brandon Wimbush’s accuracy a question, Notre Dame needs consistency at running back, and Williams can provide it.”
Maybe he will … but word on the street since the start of summer has been that Williams is projected to miss some games at the outset for undisclosed reasons. The University will not confirm the matter, citing privacy laws, but head coach Brian Kelly has kept mum of refuting it, and Williams’ preseason practice reps have been extremely limited.
Overall, Sports Illustrated was one of the less optimistic outlets about Notre Dame in 2018, although the SI.com website earlier this summer had it at No. 20.
Among print editions, Phil Steele’s had the Irish No. 8, Lindy’s No. 12, Street & Smith No. 14 and Athlon No. 15.
On the web, Sporting News had them at No. 9 and ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach placed Notre Dame No. 12 — but the ESPN Football Power Index was the most optimistic at all with Kelly’s crew at No. 5 and possessing the fourth-best percentage chance of reaching the four-team College Football Playoff.
The rankings there have been as high as No. 7 by SBNation’s Bill Connelly to not even in the top 25 by CollegeFootballNews.com’s Pete Fiutak or SaturdaydownSouth.com.
The Coaches poll released last week had Notre Dame No. 11, while USA Today had it No. 16.
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