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Notre Dame football: Early 2021 college football top-25 rankings

By Daniel Morrison

SOUTH BEND, IN - OCTOBER 12: Notre Dame Fighting Irish players face off at the line of scrimmage against the USC Trojans during a game at Notre Dame Stadium on October 12, 2019 in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame defeated USC 30-27. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
SOUTH BEND, IN - OCTOBER 12: Notre Dame Fighting Irish players face off at the line of scrimmage against the USC Trojans during a game at Notre Dame Stadium on October 12, 2019 in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame defeated USC 30-27. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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Grayson McCall of Coastal Carolina. (Photo by Brian Davidson/Getty Images)
Grayson McCall of Coastal Carolina. (Photo by Brian Davidson/Getty Images) /

Notre Dame football: Early 2021 college football top-25 rankings

15. Wisconsin

4-3 was not the season Wisconsin wanted. They did, however, seem to find a quarterback for the future. The emergence of Graham Mertz at quarterback pushed Jack Coan to Notre Dame as a transfer.

In moments, Mertz looked like a Heisman contender, but he also had freshman moments. He’ll be better next season, and Wisconsin doesn’t stay down for long. They’ll look better with a normal season and offseason.

14. Coastal Carolina

The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, also known as the best chicken mascot based football team in South Carolina, managed an undefeated regular season. Jamey Chadwell, another rumored coach for the Tennessee job, found the perfect quarterback to run his spread option offense, Grayson McCall. McCall will only be a sophomore next season, and their defense should remain one of the best in the Sun Belt. Coastal Carolina isn’t going away.

13. Arizona State

A lot of people owe Herm Edwards an apology because what he’s doing at Arizona State is downright impressive. Like most PAC-12 teams, it’s unfair to judge them by 2020, when the Sun Devils went 2-2, but it should have been 3-1 had they not lost at the last minute to USC.

Jayden Daniels, their sensational quarterback will be back. Meanwhile, Arizona State has loaded their roster with Southern California talent and should be ready to take the next step forward.

12. Florida

The Gators have a lot to replace on offense, a new defensive coordinator to fix a mediocre and often exposed defense and a head coach who has shown his immaturity throughout the season as rumors swirl that he’s eyeing the NFL. Other than that, things are great in Gainesville. Can they trust Emory Jones at quarterback? Maybe.

He certainly runs better than Kyle Trask, which coach Dan Mullen likes, but he has never proven to be a good enough thrower. There’s tons of talent on Florida, as always, but they may not be ready to play elite-level competition without 2020’s weapons on offense.

11. USC

Kedon Slovis is a media darling. He is a USC quarterback after all, but he didn’t play to his potential in 2020, but it was a weird season so maybe cut him some slack. What was interesting was how clutch he and the USC offense were in 2020.

They stayed calm and came from behind to win multiple games. Mix that with some high-end talent and USC is still a scary team, even if Clay Helton is still somehow their coach.

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