Rivals: Notre Dame Rankings (Team and Individuals)

As College Football 2009 season approaches, rankings from various sources too emerges. Rivals along with Yahoo Sports have their Preseason Top 120 Countdown (Teams) and Top 100 Players Countdown (Individuals).

The list only goes up to No. 41 thus far. So far ND has three. I do no think ND will have any more individuals on the list unless the list is based on NFL potential which I do not think it is, so that leaves Sam Young off the board because he will be the best prospect on ND next year. Thus far the list only has one USC, but that should change in time. The best QB that ND will probably face is the first one, Colin Kaepernick of Nevada. This is why Nevada will be the toughest game before USC. Nevada will have a lot of ammunition: underdog, unknown, Appalachian State, road team. In short, they want to be the headliners in SportsCenter. Plus they ran that crazy "Pistol" formation. Bluegraysky breaks it down and reading it makes me want to buy a pistol and shoot something. The other eight opponents does not have anyone on the list. All in all, expect USC to have at least THREE players on the list. All in all, ND should have the second largest total number of players on the list (Just accounting for ND and its 2009 opponents). Which smells a lot like an 11 - 1 record or a 12 - 0 record solely based on star power. Records most ND fans are projecting. Jimmy Clausen is around the tenth best QB on the list thus far and will probably be the 15th best when the list is finished. Floyd and Tate is the only WR tandem on the list thus far, but do expect them to be the only tandem when it's all said and done which clearly says ND has the best duo in the country.

Notre Dame
1.) No. 95: Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen
2.) No. 93: Notre Dame WR Michael Floyd
3.) No. 64: Notre Dame WR Golden Tate

Nevada
1.) No. 89: Nevada QB Colin Kaepernick

Michigan
1.) No. 58: Michigan DE Brandon Graham

USC
1.) No. 60: USC G Jeff Byers

Connecticut
1.) No. 96: Connecticut LB Scott Lutrus

***** Teams with ZERO individuals on the list *****

Michigan State
Purdue
Washington
Boston College
Washington State
Navy
Pittsburgh
Stanford

As for the teams rankings, it clearly shows that we are the second best team (Just accounting for ND and its 2009 opponents) which bodes well for ND fans predictions of a record of 11 - 1 or even an undefeated one. Tallying all teams except USC, we get 699 and divide that by 10 teams we get an average of 69.9 or a 70 which is a C- students. ND, number 24, is a B student. The analysis the Rivals is, I HATE TO SAY IT, is very good.

Your opinion of Notre Dame likely depends on how much stock you put in the Irish's bowl performance. The Irish looked every bit the part of a potential BCS contender while overwhelming Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl. Of course, this is the same Irish team that lost to Syracuse at home and struggled to pick up a first down against USC in its final two regular-season games. If Clausen carries his Hawaii Bowl performance over to the regular season and the Irish figure out how to run the ball, they ought to win at least eight or nine games. If they also can put together a merely adequate defensive line, they could be BCS-bound. But that's a lot of ifs. The most realistic scenario is a 9-4 finish that includes a trip to the Gator Bowl.

24. Notre Dame

104. Washington State
97. Washington
76. Purdue
68. Boston College
63. Navy
57. Nevada
55. Connecticut
54. Stanford
48. Pittsburgh
46. Michigan
31. Michigan State

Not Yet Ranked. USC (Probably in the TOP 10)

P.S. If anyone how this block quoting works in HTML please comment.