Notre Dame Thoughts as 2026 Coaches Poll Preseason Rankings Released

As expected, Notre Dame will enter the 2026 football season as a top-five team, officially, as the Preseason AFCA Coaches Poll was released on Tuesday.

Notre Dame checked in at No. 5, the same spot it debuted in the same poll last season, before going 10-2 and narrowly missing out on a College Football Playoff berth.

In the College Football Playoff era, which dates back to the 2014 season, it's the third time Notre Dame will start a season in the top-five of this particular poll - all of which have come under the direction of Marcus Freeman: 2022, 2025, and 2026.

Notre Dame's Top-Heavy Opponents for 2026

If you see or hear anything about Notre Dame in 2026, it's fairly quick that the schedule comes up.

By no means is Notre Dame facing a murderers row of sorts this fall, but the Coaches Poll shows perhaps a more difficult schedule than many are giving the Fighting Irish credit for.

The preseason coaches poll is out. Who is overrated and who is underrated? Fire away. Graphic via @On3. pic.twitter.com/vLaXCWBH2t
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) August 4, 2026

Notre Dame will face three teams in the preseason top 20 this year: Miami checks in at No. 7, BYU at No. 15, and SMU at No. 20.

That's not to say this is some hellish slate, but for instance, Georgia also plays just three teams ranked in the preseason top 20, and none as high as Miami (Oklahoma at No. 9 is it's highest).

National Champions in Preseason AFCA Coaches Poll

While it certainly hasn't been close to perfect in predicting the national champion over the years, the AFCA Coaches Poll has done a fairly good job of projecting a massive year for the eventual national champion recently.

Well, besides last year, anyway.

Indiana started the year ranked 19th in the Coaches Poll, far and away the lowest preseason ranking in it of any eventual national champion on the College Football Playoff era.

Of other champions in that time, only LSU in 2019 and Ohio State in 2014 went on to win the championship after not being ranked in the Coaches Poll's preseason top-five - both checked in sixth to start those years.

Also worth noting, only Alabama in 2017 started the year as the preseason No. 1 in the Coaches Poll and went on to win the national championship.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thoughts

To me, this used to mark a day that felt like it had great meaning for the upcoming year.

While I still get excitement that the poll's release means college football is that much closer to officially getting started, what I take from the actual poll is pretty much nothing.

Just last year Texas was the preseason No. 1, and went 9-3, with an embarrassing loss at 4-8 Florida, and finished short of the College Football Playoff.

5️⃣ in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/VgpORRRrdH
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) August 4, 2026

Penn State started the year at No. 3, only to drop a heartbreaker to Oregon early in the year, never recover, and fire head coach James Franklin just weeks later.

Clemson started the year ranked sixth, lost its opener to LSU, and never looked the part of a playoff contender, starting the year just 3-5 and ultimately finishing it 7-6 after losing to Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl.

Football is close and expectations are sky-high for Notre Dame, but those are both things we already knew before the actual rankings were released Tuesday.

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