"Say goodbye to Boise State and Notre Dame, which were replaced by newcomers Washington and Georgia Tech." writes ESPN commentator Mark Schlabach in his most recent Way-Too-Early Preseason Top 25.
In the first edition of the Top 25, Notre Dame appeared at 23rd on his list with the following paragraph:
"The jury still seems to be out on whether coach Brian Kelly can return the Fighting Irish to national prominence. There's no question the Irish are a better defensive team under Kelly, but the offense continues to struggle because of turnovers and poor quarterback play. Kelly will again oversee a quarterback battle in the offseason, with Tommy Rees, Andrew Hendrix and Everett Golson battling for the starting job. The Irish will be without star receiver Michael Floyd, but tight end Tyler Eifert decided to come back for one more season. The defense should continue to improve as young linemen such as Aaron Lynch and Stephon Tuitt get stronger. Notre Dame's schedule in 2012 is daunting, with nine games against teams that played in bowl games, including road contests at Michigan State, Oklahoma and USC."
This is a very fair assessment of the situation. In the next Top 25, Notre Dame fell to 24th with the same basic assessment with a few recruiting tidbits. However, in the newest Top 25, Notre Dame is removed because "Notre Dame's best player transferred to South Florida."
In all fairness, this might be true eventually. But, I'm more keen to believe the projected first round picks in next year's NFL draft, Manti Te'o, Zack Martin and Tyler Eifert. Arkansas lost its coach and only dropped two slots. Notre Dame being removed does not make a lot of sense.
However, they can only do one thing. Prove it on the field.
Thank God they're not ranked. They seem to do better when they are the underdogs.
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