Notre Dame Ranked No. 9 In Athlon's Preseason Magazine
Notre Dame is ranked No. 9 in the country in the Athlon Sports College Football preseason magazine. It is the third preseason magazine to rank the Irish in the preseason Top 10. Athlon projects that Notre Dame will finish the regular season with a 10-2 record, earning a trip to the Cotton Bowl where it will face UCF.
The publication ranked Notre Dame as one of three teams on the decline in 2019.
Anonymous opposing coaches were quoted on their thoughts for Notre Dame, and a couple stood out.
“Last year’s team was by far the best of Brian Kelly’s time in South Bend. They’re athletic all over again, and the entire team identity was redefined by Ian Book. They changed over coaches and schemes, but its really all about that quarterback. For the first time, they could be lethal in both the run and the pass from that position. As long as he stays healthy and builds on his passing, they will be a Playoff contender again this season”
Another quote:
“The second reason for their turnaround is that they’ve got freak defensive ends, guys who can really disrupt. All of their best guys there are coming back.”
It appears Athlon projects Notre Dame to lose road games to Georgia and Michigan. The Bulldogs are the preseason No. 3 team according to Athlon and the Wolverines rank No. 4. Georgia is projected to lose to Alabama in the SEC title game and Michigan is projected to beat Nebraska in the Big Ten title game, with both teams advancing to the College Football Playoffs.
Virginia (No. 25) is the only other 2019 opponent to rank in the Top 25, but Virginia Tech (No. 26) and Stanford (No. 34) aren’t far off. USC (No. 43), Boston College (No. 61), Duke (No. 66), Louisville (No. 81), Navy (No. 102), New Mexico (No. 113) and Bowling Green (No. 125) round out Notre Dame’s schedule.
The publication named senior safety Alohi Gilman a preseason first-team All-American, and senior end Julian Okwara was named to the third-team.
Four Notre Dame opponents (Walker Little, OL, Stanford; Andrew Thomas, OL, Georgia; Paulson Adebo, CB, Stanford; Bryce Hall, CB, Virginia) were named first-team All-Americans, five were named to the second-team (D’Andre Swift, RB, Georgia; Ben Bredeson, OL, Michigan; Lavert Hill, CB, Michigan; JR Reed, S, Georgia; Rodrigo Blankenship, K, Georgia) and Boston College running back AJ Dillon was named to the third-team list.
Notre Dame’s defensive line was ranked No. 10 in the nation. It was the only Irish unit to make a Top 10 list. Georgia had five units (offensive line, running back, linebacker, quarterback, secondary) ranked in the Top 10, Michigan had four (wide receivers, offensive line, quarterback, linebacker) and Boston College (running backs), USC (wide receivers) and Virginia (secondary) all had one unit ranked in the Top 10.
USC head coach Clay Helton and New Mexico head coach Bob Davie were named by Athlon as the top two coaches on the hot seat heading into 2019. Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield was listed as the best offseason hire for coaches at new programs.
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