Notre Dame football news: Why top-5 AP Top 25 Poll ranking could actually be bad
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On Monday afternoon, the first AP Top 25 rankings for the upcoming college football season came out, and the Notre Dame football program came in at number four in the nation. The Fighting Irish trailed only Ohio State, Oregon, and Georgia in the rankings despite coming off a season in which they missed the playoff altogether.
However, now, college football insider Brett McMurphy of On3 Sports has highlighted why the high ranking may not necessarily be a good thing for the Fighting Irish.
“No. 4 Notre Dame ranked in preseason Top 5 of @AP_Top25 poll for only 4th time in last 34 years. The other seasons did not end well for Irish. 2026 No. 4, 2022 No. 5, finished 18, 2006 No. 2, finished 17,” he reported on X, formerly Twitter.
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Indeed, Notre Dame has not typically handled high preseason expectations well, and it remains to be seen how they will respond to the challenge this time around. Last year, the Fighting Irish stumbled out of the gates to a 0-2 start before running the table down the stretch to finish 10-2, but it still wasn’t enough to get them in the college football playoff, as they missed out on a spot in favor of Miami, who beat them earlier in the season.
The Fighting Irish ended up declining their Bowl Game invitation as a result, in a move that drew a slew of mockery from the college football world, and this time around, they’ll look to make sure the committee has no decision to make when the final voting gets underway.
Notre Dame will kick off its season on September 6 vs Wisconsin.
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