Sporting News' Ranking Slots Notre Dame As A Top-15 Team Of The 2010s
Notre Dame will remember the 2010s as a return to contention.
The Irish averaged seven wins per season in the 13 years between Lou Holtz’s final season and Brian Kelly’s first season. Kelly’s first 10 years, though, produced a 92-37 record (excluding vacated wins), a BCS Championship Game appearance in 2012 and a College Football Playoff spot in 2018. They ended the decade on more stable ground than they have occupied in a while.
It earned them the No. 12 spot in Sporting News’ ranking of the 25 best teams of the 2010s, as determined by a formula.
“Kelly led the Irish to a BCS championship appearance and a College Football Playoff appearance as part of undefeated regular seasons, but the reality checks Alabama and Clemson provided show what it takes to reach those national championship heights,” Sporting News’ Bill Bender wrote. “The Irish are 33-6 the past three seasons and have produced the 11th-most NFL Draft picks.”
Going by Sporting News’ formula, Notre Dame had 27 points. The formula gave 10 points for a national championship, five points for a national title game appearance, five points for a CFP berth, three points for a BCS or New Year’s Six Bowl appearance and two points for a Heisman winner.
Win percentage, first-round NFL Draft picks and All-Americans since 2010 were each ranked with an AP poll style 15-1 score.
Excluding 2012 and 2018, Notre Dame has played in one other BCS/New Year’s Six game, the 2015 Fiesta Bowl. The Irish lost to Ohio State, 44-28. They did not have a Heisman winner, though linebacker Manti Te’o was a finalist in 2012.
Since Kelly’s arrival, Notre Dame has had 45 draft picks, and nine of them were first-rounders. Six Irish players were All-American selections in the 2010s. Excluding the vacated wins, Notre Dame has a .713 win percentage since 2010.
The 11 teams listed above Notre Dame in Sporting News’ ranking were Alabama (166 points), Clemson (122), Ohio State (90.5), Oklahoma (76), LSU (74), Florida State (61), Oregon (42), Wisconsin, (35.5), Georgia (34.5), Auburn (34) and Stanford (31).
Florida (21 points), Michigan State (15) and Boise State (14) are the three behind Notre Dame and finish the top 15.
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