Notre Dame lands at No. 7 on preseason USA Today coaches poll
Most outlets throughout the offseason considered Notre Dame a top-10 team entering the 2024 college football season. A group of Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches — which includes Marcus Freeman — agree.
The Irish are ranked No. 7 in the preseason USA Today coaches poll, with 19 days until Florida State and Georgia Tech kick off the season at noon ET in Dublin, Ireland. They received 969 voting points.
Notre Dame fell behind Georgia (1,364 voting points), Ohio State (1,302), Oregon (1,228), Texas (1,223), Alabama (1,077) and Ole Miss (1,019). Michigan (944), Penn State (889) and Florida State (867) rounded out the top 10.
The Irish did not receive a first-place vote. Only four teams did: Georgia (46), Ohio State (7), Texas (1) and Michigan (1). The Bulldogs are the overwhelming choice for the top spot at the moment, while one coach evidently decided to rank the defending national champion No. 1 and not ask any further questions.
Three teams on Notre Dame’s schedule made the top 25: Florida State, Texas A&M and USC.
As mentioned earlier, the Seminoles landed at No. 10 and received 867 voting points. The Aggies, whom the Irish face in Week 1, are ranked 20th with 273. USC made the cut by a comfortable margin as well, ranking 23rd with 199.
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Louisville, another Irish opponent, appeared in the “Others Receiving Votes” section and would have landed at No. 27 if the ranking extended that far. The Cardinals received 95 voting points.
Notre Dame enters the 2024 season with significant optimism, as Freeman has said it will feature his most talented roster yet. The Irish have several defensive stars such as junior cornerback Benjamin Morrison, graduate student safety Xavier Watts and graduate student defensive tackle Howard Cross III. They’ll lead an experienced group that finished near the top of the country in most categories last season under third-year defensive coordinator Al Golden.
Offensively, senior Duke transfer quarterback Riley Leonard and new offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock will look to upgrade a unit that put up big numbers against inferior competition but struggled in big games in 2023. The Irish did suffer a significant blow, though, when they lost sophomore left tackle Charles Jagusah for the season to a torn right pectoralis muscle during practice Saturday night.
Here’s the full USA Today preseason coaches poll.
USA Today preseason coaches poll: Notre Dame ranked No. 7
- Georgia (46 first-place votes)
- Ohio State (7)
- Oregon
- Texas (1)
- Alabama
- Ole Miss
- Notre Dame
- Michigan (1)
- Penn State
- Florida State
- Missouri
- LSU
- Utah
- Clemson
- Tennessee
- Oklahoma
- Kansas State
- Oklahoma State
- Miami (FL)
- Texas A&M
- Arizona
- North Carolina State
- USC
- Kansas
- Iowa
