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Why Joel Klatt has Notre Dame football outside his preseason top 15

IMG_9992by:Tyler Horka•08/08/23•

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Mark J. Rebilas - USA TODAY Sports

The preseason Coaches Poll came out Monday, and the skippers across the country placed the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at No. 13. It’s the sixth straight season the Irish have been slotted inside the top 15 to begin the season.

Fox’s lead color analyst, Joel Klatt, doesn’t see it that way.

Klatt put Notre Dame all the way down at No. 18 in advance of the 2023 campaign. Here is everything he had to say about why he’s not as bullish on Notre Dame.

“Notre Dame … I could easily put them higher. I love their offensive line. I think Sam Hartman is gonna be better for them. I just question them losing their offensive coordinator in Tommy Rees, and they lose Michael Meyer, who was just a huge part of their offense.

“With Marcus Freeman, I’ll be honest, he is a wait-and-see for me in terms of whether this is gonna work at Notre Dame. Their offensive line is gonna keep them in games, and I think that’s gonna be a hard matchup against Ohio State, similar why Ohio State doesn’t match up great against Michigan. If I was Notre Dame, I would line up with that offensive line and go right at Ohio State in that matchup in September. Hartman is a big addition for them at the quarterback position.”

Rees left for Alabama after three years as the Notre Dame offensive coordinator. He was the team’s quarterbacks coach for the three seasons preceding his time as the OC, too. He doubled with those titles from 2020-22.

Mayer left Notre Dame as the program’s all-time leader in receptions (180), receiving yards (2,099) and touchdowns (18) by a tight end. He had more than twice as many targets as any other Irish pass-catcher in 2022.

Hartman, the highly respected graduate transfer quarterback from Wake Forest, is expected to distribute the ball more evenly to a deeper yet inexperienced wide receiving corps. But to Klatt’s point, Notre Dame also has the ability to line up and run right at opponents with two NFL-worthy tackles in juniors Joe Alt and Blake Fisher. Two-hundred and 33-pound bruising tailback Audric Estimé is the benefactor of running behind that duo.

Here is Klatt’s full preseason top 15.

  1. Georgia
  2. Michigan
  3. Ohio State
  4. Alabama
  5. Penn State
  6. Washington
  7. LSU
  8. USC
  9. Clemson
  10. Florida State
  11. Utah
  12. Tennessee
  13. Oregon
  14. Texas
  15. Oregon State
  16. Oklahoma
  17. Kansas State
  18. Notre Dame
  19. TCU
  20. Ole Miss
  21. North Carolina
  22. Iowa
  23. Wisconsin
  24. Texas Tech
  25. UCLA

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