Notre Dame Ranked 7th, Projected To Win Nine Games By ESPN Power Rankings

The final SP+ preseason power rankings are out from ESPN, and Notre Dame is certainly in better position than it was a season ago. Notre Dame was ranked seventh in the power rankings, with a win projection of 9.4. Notre Dame earned 21.0 points, which was just 0.4 behind fifth-ranked Clemson and sixth-ranked Michigan, but was 1.5 points ahead of the No. 8 team (Texas A&M).

A year ago the SP+ rankings had Notre Dame ranked 25th in the rankings, with a record projection of 7-5. That ranking never made sense, nor did the prognostication about what Notre Dame was missing. Of course, Notre Dame finished the season with an 11-2 record and was ranked eighth in the final polls.

One of the clear issues with the ranking is the incredibly inflation of the SEC and Big Ten conferences. Eight of the top 20 teams are from the SEC, and 11 of the top 30 are from the SEC. Seven of the top 30 teams are from the Big Ten, which makes 18 of the top 30 teams from those two power conferences.

I realize the SP+ isn't meant to reflect the final AP rankings, which Connelly makes clear, but when analyzing any rankings system one should always look to gauge its accuracy. Over the last five years the two conferences combined for 13, 8, 12, 12 and 11 teams in the final top 30 of the AP poll. The SEC has never had more than eight teams (8, 4, 6, 7, 6) and the Big Ten has never had more than six (5, 4, 6, 5, 5).

Only two group of five teams made the top 30.

Here is Connelly's explanation of the rankings:

"As always: SP+ is a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a résumé ranking, and, along those same lines, these projections aren't intended to be a guess at what the AP Top 25 will look like at the end of the year. These are simply early offseason power rankings based on the information we have been able to gather to date." - Bill Connelly

Be sure to check out the Irish Breakdown message board, the Champions Lounge

Irish Breakdown Content

Notre Dame 2022 Roster
Notre Dame 2022 Schedule

Notre Dame 2023 Class Big Board
Notre Dame 2023 Commits Board - Offense
Notre Dame 2023 Commits Board - Defense

Notre Dame 2023 Scholarship Offers
Notre Dame 2024 Scholarship Offers

Ranking The 2022 Signees - Offense
Ranking The 2022 Signees - Defense

———————

Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content and our premium message board! Click on the link below for more.

BECOME A MEMBER

Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!

Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Follow me on Gettr: @IrishBreakdown
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook

Sign up for the FREE Irish Breakdown daily newsletter