2005 Opponent Preview: Wrap-up & Rankings | by Pat
Over the course of the summer we've taken a look at this year's Irish opponents, position by position. Now we'll bringing everything together into one big summary.
Here's the method behind the madness: I'm going to list all the rankings by position, add them up, and give each team an average overall rank. From that average, we'll list out the 2005 opponents, best to worst.
Keep in mind though, that these rankings are based not just on talent, but also on depth. Important factors like coaching and home game vs. away game aren't being considered here. This is merely a rank of how the opponents stack up talent-wise. We'll also include Michael's excellent coaching turnover reviews so that you can have a one-stop shopping look at this year's opponents.
(Also, if you have any good captions for the coaches' photos, go ahead and throw them in a comment.)
1. USC Coaching Summary| Quarterback - 1 Running backs - 1 Wide Recievers - 1 Tight End - 1 | O-Line - 2 D-Line - 4 Linebackers - 3 Secondary - 2 |
Average Rank: 1.875
2. TENNESSEE Coaching Summary| Quarterback - 3 Running backs - 3 Wide Recievers - 2 Tight End - 6 | O-Line - 3 D-Line - 1 Linebackers - 1 Secondary - 1 |
Average Rank: 2.5
3. MICHIGAN Coaching Summary| Quarterback - 2 Running backs - 2 Wide Recievers - 4 Tight End - 4 | O-Line - 1 D-Line - 3 Linebackers - 4 Secondary - 4 |
Average Rank: 3.0
 SWM seeks friendship, 4-loss season. |
| Quarterback - 7 Running backs - 4 Wide Recievers - 3 Tight End - 2 | O-Line - 5 D-Line - 2 Linebackers - 2 Secondary - 5 |
Average Rank: 3.75
5. PITTSBURGH Coaching Summary| Quarterback - 4 Running backs - 10 Wide Recievers - 7 Tight End - 5 | O-Line - 7 D-Line - 9 Linebackers - 7 Secondary - 3 |
Average Rank: 6.5
6. STANFORD Coaching Summary| Quarterback - 6 Running backs - 5 Wide Recievers - 6 Tight End - 9 | O-Line - 6 D-Line - 5 Linebackers - 8 Secondary - 11 |
Average Rank: 7.0
7. MSU Coaching Summary| Quarterback - 5 Running backs - 7 Wide Recievers - 5 Tight End - 7 | O-Line - 4 D-Line - 10 Linebackers - 10 Secondary - 10 |
Average Rank: 7.25
8. BYU Coaching Summary| Quarterback - 8 Running backs - 8 Wide Recievers - 8 Tight End - 3 | O-Line - 8 D-Line - 8 Linebackers - 9 Secondary - 9 |
Average Rank: 7.625
9. WASHINGTON Coaching Summary| Quarterback - 10 Running backs - 10 Wide Recievers - 9 Tight End - 8 | O-Line - 9 D-Line - 7 Linebackers - 5 Secondary - 6 |
Average Rank: 8.0
10. SYRACUSE Coaching Summary| Quarterback - 9 Running backs - 6 Wide Recievers - 10 Tight End - 10 | O-Line - 10 D-Line - 6 Linebackers - 6 Secondary - 7 |
Average Rank: 8.0
11. NAVY Coaching Summary| Quarterback - 11 Running backs - 11 Wide Recievers - 11 Tight End - 11 | O-Line - 11 D-Line - 11 Linebackers - 11 Secondary - 8 |
Average Rank: 10.625
