Notre Dame football gets Top 5 slot in post-spring rankings

There's a ton of excitement around the Notre Dame football team heading into the 2024 season. That's despite the fact that there was some who were quite disappointed that Marcus Freeman and company won "just" 10 games in 2023. 

Of course, the excitement comes from the fact that Freeman went out and went after new players like he was running an NFL team. If there was a spot on the team that needed improvement, the Notre Dame football program brought someone in to fill the hole.

It's the way that the Fighting Irish have managed to fill their holes that has some analysts thinking that not only is Notre Dame going to be good, but they're going to be REALLY good. In fact, The Athletic's Ari Wasserman believes Freeman's squad is the fifth best team in the country coming out of spring practices.

Wasserman admitted in his article that people probably rightfully thought that he had the Irish ranked a bit too high. He added that at times he thinks Notre Dame is ranked to high as well. And yet … there they are.

Notre Dame football gets ringing endorsement

"But when you take a deeper look at the Fighting Irish, you see a team that has everything in place to break through in 2024. Notre Dame hired OC Mike Denbrock back from LSU and added quarterback Riley Leonard through the portal. It addressed its receiver issues with Kris Mitchell and Beaux Collins. It should have one of the best defenses in the country with a ton of returning production. And its schedule sets up to where 10-2 would be a disappointment."

So who are the teams above a squad where two losses are a disappointment? It's not hard to figure out. Wasserman has Ohio State as the top team, then the Georgia Bulldogs, then a bit of a surprise with the Oregon Ducks and then finally, the Texas Longhorns.

Notre Dame football has a big job ahead of its in order to fulfill those expectations. Fall can't get here soon enough.