Notre Dame Football No. 6 in ESPN Future Power Rankings
By J.P. Scott
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg projects Notre Dame football as a solid top-ten program over the next three seasons.
Whatever media bias that Notre Dame football used to be able to take advantage of in terms of attention and preseason rankings has faded in recent years — and many will argue rightfully so. The last three decades have seen some of that historical shine come off the Irish program with a revolving door of coaches who first raise and subsequently fail to meet expectations.
Even the Brian Kelly era — one that has seen a BCS Championship appearance and a College Football Playoff berth — has been a rollercoaster of hype and letdowns for many Notre Dame fans.
That’s the past. It’s time to look ahead.
On Wednesday, ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg published what has become a popular annual feature over at the “Worldwide Leader.” The ESPN Future Power Rankings (ESPN+ Subscription required) for college football take a look every program’s offensive-defensive balance, recruiting performance, coaching changes and recent trends to come up with an overall projection of program success over the next three seasons.
The Notre Dame football program came in at No. 6.
What does that mean? Depends on who you ask.
Ideally, it means that over the course of the next three seasons — from 2019 through 2021 — the Irish should be right in the thick of the College Football Playoff conversation.
That seems to be where most Notre Dame fans want the team to be every season.
We’ve seen significant improvements in offensive and defensive performance over the last couple of years. Here at Slap the Sign, we’ve reported on the progress and improvements on the recruiting front ad nauseam. We’ve lauded the changes Brian Kelly has made in both his interactions with players and media as well as his game-planning and coaching strategies.
It all looks like the workings of a solid plan coming together. According to Adam Rittenberg and the powers that be at ESPN, they think so, too.
For what it’s worth, Notre Dame was No. 20 in last year’s rankings. That just shows you how much value — from a trend standpoint — is put into an undefeated regular season and College Football Playoff appearance.
Next. Notre Dame Football 2019: A Season of Unfamiliar Foes. dark
With another top ten finish in 2019, there’s no reason the Notre Dame football program shouldn’t maintain its position in ESPN’s annual exercise. From what we’ve seen, the Irish will be favorites in 10 of the 12 games on the 2019 slate. A 10-2 record should be enough to maintain their current standing. Anything better than that could mean another bump in 2020.