Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1143622
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com AUGUST 2019 11 UNDER THE DOME NOTRE DAME A CONSENSUS PRESEASON TOP-10 PICK The Fighting Irish football program has finished in the Associated Press top 10 only three times the past 25 years (2005, 2012 and 2018), but is now projected to do so for the second year in a row. Notre Dame was ranked No. 9 by three of the four major preseason magazines — Athlon Sports, Lindy's Sports and Phil Steele's — and was listed No. 7 by Street & Smith's. Both Street & Smith's and Phil Steele's predict that Notre Dame will play in the Orange Bowl, with Street & Smith's predicting the opponent to be Florida while Phil Steele's has the Irish play- ing Miami (Fla.). Athlon Sports projects Notre Dame to return to the Cotton Bowl, where it would face Central Florida — whose starting quarterback could be graduate transfer Brandon Wimbush, 13-3 as the starter for the Fighting Irish before losing his job last year to Ian Book. Five different Notre Dame opponents were also ranked in the top 25 by at least one publication. • Georgia: No. 3 by Street & Smith's, Lindy's and Athlon, and No. 4 by Phil Steele's. • Michigan: No. 3 by Phil Steele's, No. 4 by Athlon, No. 5 by Lindy's and No. 11 by Street & Smith's. • Stanford: No. 22 by Phil Steele's, Lindy's and Street & Smith's. • Virginia: No. 25 by Athlon and Street & Smith's. • Virginia Tech: No. 25 by Phil Steele's. Preseason All-Americans Three different Notre Dame players earned preseason All-American honors from at least one of Athlon, Lindy's, Phil Steele's, Street & Smith's and Sporting News. Senior right guard Tommy Kraemer earned first-team honors from Street & Smith's and Sporting News, plus was a second-team pick by Phil Steele's. Senior safety Alohi Gilman earned first-team honors from Athlon, second-team recognition from Sporting News and third-team status from Phil Steele's. Senior defensive end Julian Okwara earned second-team accolades from Lindy's, third-team honors from Athlon and fourth-team notice from Phil Steele's. Okwara and senior left tackle Liam Eichenberg were first-round NFL Draft picks in the mock draft from Dane Brugler at The Athletic. Position Rankings Phil Steele's, Lindy's and Athlon all rank position groups across the country, and several Notre Dame units made the top 10. • The Fighting Irish defensive line is ranked No. 6 nationally by Lindy's and No. 10 by Athlon. • Notre Dame's offensive line is ranked No. 8 by Phil Steele's. • The defensive backs are ranked No. 6 by Lindy's and No. 8 by Phil Steele's. • The wide receivers check in at No. 10 by Lindy's. Lindy's ranks top players at each position. Notre Dame also had a number of players crack those rankings. Here is that list: Tommy Kraemer — No. 5 OG Julian Okwara — No. 6 DE Alohi Gilman — No. 6 S Troy Pride Jr. — No. 8 CB Ian Book — No. 16 QB Book is ranked as the No. 10 Heis- man Trophy candidate by Lindy's and No. 12 by Athlon. An interesting comment regarding Notre Dame came from Athlon, which placed the Irish on its list of teams on the decline. "Consider this more of a regression- to-the-mean than actual decline," Athlon wrote. "Brian Kelly's Fighting Irish were probably more 'top-15 good' than 'Playoff-good' last season, and they could very well hit that level again in 2019. But trips to Georgia, Michigan and Stanford will make a repeat run to 12-0 awfully difficult. "The Irish could be as good as they were last season but go about 9-3 instead." NOTRE DAME-LOUISVILLE OPENER AT NIGHT ON ESPN Notre Dame's Sept. 2 Labor Day opener versus Louisville at Cardinal Stadium will kick off at 8 p.m. and be televised by ESPN. It will be the first Monday night opener for the Fighting Irish since Sept. 15, 1975 at Boston Col- lege, a 17-3 Notre Dame win in Dan Devine's head coaching debut at the school. The last time Notre Dame opened on a weekday was a 14-7 win at Vanderbilt on a Thursday night in 1996. This also will be the program's fourth opener at night in the last five years. Notre Dame crushed Texas at home (38-3) in 2015 and toppled Michigan last season (24-17), but fell 50-47 at Texas in 2016 to begin a 4-8 campaign. Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield will make his coaching debut for the Cardinals after last year's 2-10 debacle under deposed head coach Bobby Petrino. Among its seven home games, Notre Dame will play only one at night (versus USC Oct. 12) after having a record-tying three last season. Start times in the remaining road contests versus Georgia, Michigan, Duke and Stanford have yet to be announced. 2019 SCHEDULE Date Opponent Time (ET) Sept. 2 at Louisville (ESPN) 8 p.m. Sept. 14 New Mexico (NBC) 2:30 p.m. Sept. 21 at Georgia TBA Sept. 28 Virginia (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Oct. 5 Bowling Green (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Oct. 12 USC* (NBC) 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26 at Michigan (ABC/ESPN) TBA Nov. 2 Virginia Tech (NBC) 2:30 p.m. Nov. 9 at Duke (ACCN) TBA Nov. 16 Navy (NBC) 2:30 p.m. Nov. 23 Boston College (NBC) 2:30 p.m. Nov. 30 at Stanford TBA * This will be the Irish Wear Green contest, with fans encouraged to dress in green; ACCN — ACC Network Notre Dame and Louisville, which last met in 2014 at South Bend, will open the 2019 season in a prime-time ESPN contest on Labor Day. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA Senior safety Alohi Gilman is a popular preseason All- America pick. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA