Slap the Sign
Fansided

Notre Dame Football: ESPN’s FPI rankings low on the Irish

By Brad Weiss

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - JANUARY 01: The Notre Dame Fighting Irish run on the field during player introductions before the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl football game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at AT&T Stadium on January 01, 2021 in Arlington, Texas. The Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 31-14. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - JANUARY 01: The Notre Dame Fighting Irish run on the field during player introductions before the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl football game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at AT&T Stadium on January 01, 2021 in Arlington, Texas. The Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 31-14. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Notre Dame Football program has a lot of questions to be answered this offseason, and ESPN does not feel they are one of the elite heading into 2021.

The Notre Dame Football program has been to two of the last three College Football Playoffs, establishing themselves as one of the better programs in the country. Sure, they may not be where Alabama, Ohio State, or Clemson are in terms of elite talent just yet, but they are trending that way and should be back in the CFP in no time.

However, this is also a program losing a bunch of talent to the NFL Draft this year, and that has some of the media outlets low on them to this preseason. As we saw recently, ESPN’s FPI Rankings have the Irish outside of the elite heading into 2021.

Notre Dame Football ranked outside of the top-10

Looking at ESPN’s preseason top-10 FPI Rankings, you will see that the Notre Dame Football team is nowhere to be found:

  1. Alabama
  2. Oklahoma
  3. Clemson
  4. Iowa State
  5. Ohio State
  6. Texas A&M
  7. Georgia
  8. Mississippi State
  9. Oklahoma State
  10. Penn State

If you are not aware of how ESPN ranks these teams, here is their explanation from their website:

"The Football Power Index (FPI) is a measure of team strength that is meant to be the best predictor of a team’s performance going forward for the rest of the season. FPI represents how many points above or below average a team is. Projected results are based on 20,000 simulations of the rest of the season using FPI, results to date, and the remaining schedule."

For those of you wondering where Notre Dame Football landed in these rankings, they ended up right outside of the top-10 at No. 11 overall. That ranking put them ahead of teams like the University of Texas, North Carolina, and Florida, but to not have them within the top-10 was a bit shocking.

Sure, they are losing a bunch of talent on both sides of the ball, but they have more talent coming back than the likes of Mississippi State, or even Penn State. Jack Coan should be fine under center, they have more than enough talent on the offensive line, and elite players in Michael Mayer and Kyren Williams.

Also, they bring back an All-American safety in Kyle Hamilton, strong defensive linemen, and a group of linebackers that will be coached up by one of the best linebacker minds in football in defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman.

Next. Liam Eichenberg is elite in pass protection. dark

All of that seems like the recipe for another solid season in South Bend, a program that has won ten or more games in each of the last four seasons. These rankings mean absolutely nothing when it comes to what happens in the Fall, but it is interesting to see how the Irish are viewed heading into the Spring Game.

Home/Notre Dame Football