Gimme Five: Putting Notre Dame’s preseason AP Poll ranking in historical context

It might not seem like it, but Notre Dame is in its best run of preseason respect since the mid-1990s.

The Associated Press preseason top 25 has ranked the Irish in the top 10 in five of the past six years. That includes the first AP poll of the 2024 campaign , which dropped Aug. 12 and had Notre Dame at No. 7.

Seventh is Notre Dame’s third-highest preseason AP ranking, trailing only 2022 (No. 5) and 2006 (No. 2).

That’s a good thing for Irish head coach Marcus Freeman ’s aspirations as his third season kicks off with massive expectations. According to Action Network’s Brett McMurphy , only twice has the national champion not ranked at least No. 7 in the preseason AP Poll: Florida State in 2013 (No. 11) and Auburn in 2010 (No. 22).

Before the ongoing five-in-six run, the Irish had only opened as a top-10 team twice since the turn of the century. Notre Dame pulled off a string of eight straight seasons in the preseason top 10 from 1989-96, before the end of the Lou Holtz era brought forth a decade of mediocrity in South Bend.

Since 2000, high expectations have not necessarily engineered results. The only Fighting Irish team to make a national championship game in that time frame is the 2012 edition. That team was coincidentally — or not-so-coincidentally, as many Domers will argue — Brian Kelly ’s third season at the helm. Notre Dame was not ranked in the preseason AP poll that year.

Both Notre Dame teams that made the four-team College Football Playoff began their seasons with relatively modest rankings, too. The 2020 Irish started their year at No. 10, while the 2018 Irish opened at No. 12.

In 2006, Charlie Weis ’ second team finished 10-3 with a loss in the Sugar Bowl despite being ranked second in the country before the season. In 2022, Freeman’s first group dropped its first two games and finished 9-4, winning the Gator Bowl.

Rounding out the top-five preseason AP Top 25 rankings in the 21st century, both the 2019 and 2021 Irish landed at No. 9. They also wound up with the same record: 11-2. Notre Dame won the Camping World Bowl to cap off its 2019 season, while the end of 2021 saw Kelly’s departure and Freeman’s hiring, along with a loss in the Fiesta Bowl.

Notre Dame’s top-five preseason AP Poll rankings in the 21st century

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