As if Notre Dame football fans weren't already getting antsy waiting for the 2026 season, the release of Yahoo College Fantasy Football for this fall on Thursday morning will only ramp up the excitement.
While other sites and brands have tried to launch college fantasy football leagues, they've never taken off the way they should have, given how massive professional fantasy leagues are across the country. With Yahoo now officially diving into this oddly untapped pool, Fighting Irish fans, as well as fans of Power 4 teams all over the country, have a new way to root on their own teams and even hated rivals, should they have the misfortune of drafting someone from USC or Michigan or maybe even Stanford.
While all of this is good news for anyone who loves fantasy sports, there are some reasons for Notre Dame fans to raise their eyebrows in surprise a bit. With Yahoo's launch of this platform comes preseason rankings for every player in the SEC, ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, and Notre Dame.
At least for now, the Irish aren't getting a lot of love in preseason rankings. At least when it comes to individual players, with quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends being the four draftable position players, it might come as a bit of a surprise just how low-ranked starting quarterback CJ Carr is heading into the 2026 season.
Yahoo loves Notre Dame football’s defense, but the offense gets a colder view.
At the moment, Carr is ranked 36th among fantasy quarterbacks in the Power 4. Yes, the 36th best.
Among the quarterbacks that Yahoo feels are more attractive to fantasy owners? California's Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, Wisconsin's Colton Joseph and Mississippi State's Kamario Taylor.
Granted, in fantasy football, a dual-threat quarterback can be more valuable than a straight drop-back passer, even if his team isn't expected to be any good. In fact, it can be better if the quarterback's team isn't any good because he has to amass more yards. Still, Arch Manning is considered the top fantasy quarterback on the platform, and while he can run, he's hardly someone who will threaten 800 yards on the ground anytime soon.
In contrast to Yahoo College Fantasy Football, Notre Dame running back Aneyas Williams apparently has a lot of believers. Despite not yet having the starting job in South Bend, he is ranked the ninth-best player at his position.
At wide receiver, it should surprise no one that Jordan Faison is the highest-ranked Fighting Irish wide receiver. It shouldn't surprise anyone that he's not ranked particularly high. Faison is, in fact, ranked the 45th-best player at his position and the 187th-best player on the platform.
Cooper Flanagan is the highest-ranked Notre Dame tight end, and Yahoo experts apparently believe he could be among the very best fantasy generators in the sport. Flanagan is ranked as the 23rd-best tight end, though the platform also doesn't see tight ends being all that valuable, as he's way down to 414th-ranked player.
The other real surprises might be Notre Dame's offense and defense. Entire defenses have long been part of fantasy football, but Yahoo is also using the entire offense as a spot on the roster. The Fighting Irish are rated among the worst fantasy offenses. Only Louisville, Cincinnati, and UCF are worse. The flip side of that is the Irish defense, which is ranked as the No. 1 unit in Yahoo College Fantasy Football.
Add us as a preferred source on Google