Notre Dame Football: Irish are still a blue-chip ratio boss

Bud Elliott released this year’s version of his Blue-Chip Ratio rankings, and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are living close to the middle of the pack with the 10th best ratio score in the country.

The BCR is just a rudimentary reference point to show which teams in the country are capable of winning a national championship — nothing more. What it’s not, is explained quite well by Elliott:

It is not a requirement to make the College Football Playoff. Making the playoff does require some level of talent, but schedule also matters quite a bit.

It is also not a substitute for culture, coaching, player development, etc.

It is also not something you should use to pick games.

This is simply a way to pare down the list of potential national championship teams.

While Notre Dame is sitting 10% better than it was just a few years ago, the hope is to get closer to where the Alabama Crimson Tide, Ohio State Buckeyes, and Georgia Bulldogs are living — north of 75%.

Marcus Freeman’s first full recruiting class will be freshmen this fall,and that class has a BCR of 82% (from a 23 man class). Currently, the 2024 class has 19 commitments and a BCR of 68%. If the Irish don’t get another commitment in the 2024 class, the two class score would be at 76%.

So... recruiting IS getting better at Notre Dame under Marcus Freeman,and a 3-Star here and there really shouldn’t be sending people to the loony bin.

It’s a positive sign and a positive direction that the Irish are heading towards.