Pre-positioning | by Jay
The official preseason USA Today/Coaches Poll came out on Friday. (Quick reminder: the new Harris poll doesn't come out until late September, and the first actual BCS ranking won't be unveiled until October 17th this year). ND opponents in bold.
| Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 | Team (first-place votes) Southern California (60) Texas (2) Tennessee Michigan Oklahoma LSU Virginia Tech Miami (Fla.) Ohio State Iowa Florida Florida State Georgia Louisville Auburn Purdue Texas A&M Arizona State Boise State California Texas Tech Boston College Virginia Alabama Pittsburgh | Record 13-0 11-1 10-3 9-3 12-1 9-3 10-3 9-3 8-4 10-2 7-5 9-3 10-2 11-1 13-0 7-5 7-5 9-3 11-1 10-2 8-4 9-3 8-4 6-6 8-4 | Points 1547 1405 1259 1242 1223 1109 1090 1080 1033 1014 910 879 838 758 723 616 366 304 303 293 247 237 210 194 193 | Final '04 rank 1 4 15 12 3 16 10 11 19 8 25 14 6 7 2 NR NR 20 13 9 17 21 23 NR NR |
Others receiving votes: Fresno State (9-3) 188; Oregon (5-6) 145; Utah (12-0) 103; Georgia Tech (7-5) 88; Wisconsin (9-3) 79; North Carolina State (5-6) 69; Bowling Green (9-3) 63; Penn State (4-7) 44; Colorado (8-5) 40; Minnesota (7-5) 34; UCLA (6-6) 24; Texas-El Paso (8-4) 22; Nebraska (5-6) 21; Kansas State (4-7) 20; South Carolina (6-5) 16; Notre Dame (6-6) 13; West Virginia (8-4) 12; Wyoming (7-5) 12; Clemson (6-5) 9; New Mexico (7-5) 9; Arizona (3-8) 8; Northern Illinois (9-3) 8; Southern Mississippi (7-5) 7; Toledo (9-4) 7; Washington State (5-6) 7; Iowa State (7-5) 6; Michigan State (5-7) 6; Memphis (8-4) 5; Washington (1-10) 4; Miami (Ohio) (8-5) 3; Maryland (5-6) 2; UAB (7-5) 1; Duke (2-9) 1; Kansas (4-7) 1.
Does any other school have as many opponents in the top 25 as does ND? In the top 10? In the top 5?
Some more poll fodder, cribbing from BGI:
Does any other school have as many opponents in the top 25 as does ND? In the top 10? In the top 5?
Some more poll fodder, cribbing from BGI:
Barring something remarkable from the AP voters, 2005 will mark the fourth time in the last six seasons Notre Dame has failed to crack the preseason Top 25. It will also mark the first time since 1963 and 1964 (Ara Parseghian's debut year) that the Irish have gone consecutive seasons without a preseason ranking after going 13 straight years with a preseason ranking from 1987 to 1999.
How the mighty have fallen.
Notre Dame was a mainstay in the AP Poll through the 1960s, the 1970s, the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Its run of 15 straight years listed in the final season rankings (1964-78) is the fifth longest ranking streak all-time. Notre Dame's 14 final rankings in the top five are also fifth all time.
Parseghian may have been unranked to start the 1964 season. But after a 31-7 season-opening win over Wisconsin, Parseghian's Irish cracked the polls at No.9 the next week and remained in the poll in all but two weeks during Parseghian's 11 years and 116 games at Notre Dame.
