Notre Dame Ranked 5th In ESPN Football Power Index
Notre Dame is finally getting a little bit of respect from ESPN ..... well, sort of. Notre Dame is ranked 5th in the ESPN Football Power Index, which ranked the Fighting Irish 6th to end last season. Notre Dame was ranked 16th in the FPI at this time a year ago.
Notre Dame came in behind No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Clemson. Of course, Notre Dame has to face both Ohio State and Clemson this season. Another Notre Dame opponent - North Carolina - also ranked in the Top 25, coming in at No. 22.
The FPI hasn't jumped on the Southern Cal bandwagon yet, at least not fully, as the Trojans checked in at No. 37 on the list.
Despite ranking 5th there was still some negativity thrown in Notre Dame's direction. ESPN writer Seth Walder had this to say ....
"There's a huge gap between the four powerhouses at the top of the rankings and everyone else. The difference between teams No. 4 (Clemson) and No. 5 (Notre Dame) is larger than the difference between No. 5 and No. 19 (Baylor)."
That is the perception that will be held by many until Notre Dame and its new leadership under Marcus Freeman, can actually start to win big games, something the previous head coach simply could not do.
ESPN had Notre Dame's playoff chances at just 18% and 6% for its shot to play in the title game. Those numbers back up the above statement by Walder about the gap between Notre Dame and the top four teams. The projected win-loss record for Notre Dame is 9-3 and ESPN has Notre Dame having just a 1.1% chance to win out.
Here is a look at Notre Dame's schedule and where its opponents rank in the FPI.
2 - Ohio State
58 - Marshall
70 - California
22 - North Carolina
46 - BYU
61 - Stanford
117 - UNLV
62 - Syracuse
4 - Clemson
107 - Navy
59 - Boston College
37 - USC
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