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Notre Dame Football: Fighting Irish are a consensus top 10 preseason poll selection

Notre Dame is right there in the mix in polls that don’t matter.

By Joshua Vowles

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Yes, yes, I know... preseason polls in May are about as useful as a Michigan coach trying to cosplay Bo Shembechler — as if he was ever a national championship level coach. Still, when this is all we have, it’s what we have.

Preseason polls aren’t inherently evil though, and they at least provide a solid base for the national narrative as we get closer and closer to August. For the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, they are basically a consensus preseason top 10 team.

2019 Preseason Polls

Publication/Rank USA TODAY Sports Illustrated Sporting News NCAA (Staats) ESPN FPI espn CBS The Athletic
Publication/Rank USA TODAY Sports Illustrated Sporting News NCAA (Staats) ESPN FPI espn CBS The Athletic
1 Clemson Clemson Clemson Clemson Clemson Clemson Clemson Clemson
2 Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama
3 Georgia Georgia Georgia Ohio State Georgia Oklahoma Georgia Georgia
4 Oklahoma Ohio State Oklahoma Georgia LSU Georgia Oklahoma Ohio State
5 Ohio State Notre Dame Ohio State Oklahoma Michigan Ohio State LSU LSU
6 Michigan Oklahoma Texas Texas Oklahoma Notre Dame Ohio State Oklahoma
7 LSU Michigan Michigan Michigan Notre Dame Texas Florida Florida
8 Texas A&M Florida Notre Dame LSU Florida Florida Texas Texas
9 Oregon Texas LSU Notre Dame Auburn Michigan Michigan Oregon
10 Texas Texas A&M Florida Texas A&M Oregon Oregon Oregon Texas A&M

So, there’s eight of the seemingly endless number of preseason poll pontificates. Notre Dame is ranked inside the top 10 in five of those polls, with two of the remaining three placing the Irish at #11. If you remember, the Irish were preseason ranked #11 in 2018 (which is where they finished after the 2017 season).

The only real bothersome thing with so many of these polls is their constant support, and hand-holding, of Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines. This continues to be one of the most overhyped and underachieving marriages in all of college football — and yet here they are again in the top 10. They are more thought of in the polls than last year, and they lose so many pieces from a good (but far from great) team.

How does that make sense?

Paul Myerberg wrote the most ridiculous two sentences of the preseason:

Not to overrate an individual spring game — no one ever does that — but the Wolverines’ scrimmage saw an offense under new coordinator Josh Gattis that allowed skill players to make plays in space, a painfully missing piece for much of Jim Harbaugh’s tenure. If this holds, the Wolverines are going to be a national factor.

So, an offense does well against a defense that lost most of its playmakers... smoke another one Paulie.

It doesn’t really matter — I know — and the fact that the Clemson Tigers, Alabama Crimson Tide, and Georgia Bulldogs are most likely the best three teams in the country only means that this is just petty banter.

God, I love college football.

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