Now less than a month away from kickoff, another sign of the impending end of the long offseason arrives: the first official pre-season poll.
The Coaches’ Poll, now somehow sponsored by Amway, is out and your Notre Dame Fighting Irish come in ranked at #17. Here is the full poll:
| Rank | Team | Points | First Place Votes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida State | 1543 | 56 |
| 2 | Alabama | 1455 | 0 |
| 3 | Oklahoma | 1382 | 3 |
| 4 | Oregon | 1314 | 1 |
| 5 | Auburn | 1271 | 0 |
| 6 | Ohio State | 1267 | 1 |
| 7 | UCLA | 1085 | 0 |
| 8 | Michigan State | 1050 | 0 |
| 9 | South Carolina | 1009 | 1 |
| 10 | Baylor | 965 | 0 |
| 11 | Stanford | 955 | 0 |
| 12 | Georgia | 905 | 0 |
| 13 | LSU | 833 | 0 |
| 14 | Wisconsin | 654 | 0 |
| 15 | Southern Cal | 627 | 0 |
| 16 | Clemson | 535 | 0 |
| 17 | Notre Dame | 509 | 0 |
| 18 | Arizona State | 358 | 0 |
| 19 | Mississippi | 346 | 0 |
| 20 | Texas A&M | 266 | 0 |
| 21 | Kansas State | 257 | 0 |
| 22 | Nebraska | 228 | 0 |
| 23 | North Carolina | 175 | 0 |
| 24 | Texas | 143 | 0 |
| 25 | Washington | 142 | 0 |
Some thoughts:
- Perfectly fine with ND’s ranking. It’s basically in that pack of “teams that should be good” area which is fair.
- Alabama got zero first place votes, yet Oregon, Ohio State, and South Carolina each got one. The coaches poll remains hilarious.
- I knew OU had some preseason buzz, but three first place votes seems like overkill.
- Huge drop-offs in points from 6 to 7, 13 to 14, and 17 to 18. If you want to section of packs of teams, start there.
- Almost half of ND’s opponents are ranked: Florida State (1), Stanford (11), Southern Cal (15), Arizona State (18), and North Carolina (23).
- Two more received votes: Michigan (53 points) and Northwestern (5 points).
- Seeing Texas ranked only 24 makes me laugh. They are going to be deadly by the time they land on the Irish schedule though.
- Washington has now replaced Boise State in coach and poll ranking.
We’re almost there folks!
Louisville also received votes.