Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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• Speaking of the Wolverines, the Fighting Irish are 1-7 in their last eight trips to Ann Arbor, dating back to 1997. They are 0-4 in "The Big House" since 2007. • Another ghost to battle is the year-end trip in odd-numbered years to Stanford, where Notre Dame is 0-5 since 2009. "We have to be road warriors," Kelly said of a primary 2019 theme. "There are a number of challenges, ones that our guys recognize. That's what they sign up for. "That's why they come to Notre Dame, because they relish those challenges." TIER GROUPINGS Twenty years ago in 1999, the first tier of college football featured Flor- ida State, Nebraska, Tennessee and Michigan — with Miami and Okla- homa on the comeback trail. Ten years ago, the top tier changed to USC, Texas, Florida, LSU and Ohio State — with Oklahoma still in the mix but Miami having faded. Five years ago, Oregon and Stan- ford were in that top category — and the newcomer on the threshold of first tier was Michigan State, with final rankings of No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6 from 2013-15. Today, the demarcation is more pronounced. Alabama and Clemson are clearly Tier 1 after splitting the last four na- tional titles between them, and post- ing identical 55-4 (.932 winning per- centage) records. While the Tigers and Crimson Tide are basking in the penthouse view, the second-tier, high-rent district is comprised mainly of Georgia, Ohio State and Oklahoma. • The Bulldogs assembled premier recruiting classes the past two sea- sons and took Alabama to the brink in 2017 and 2018 championship set- tings. Can they finish? • The Buckeyes won the initial College Football Playoff in 2014, returned there in 2016, and are a remarkable 86-9 (.905 winning per- centage) since 2012. Can they sustain such excellence sans former head coach Urban Meyer? The Sooners have earned their way into the CFP three of the last four sea- sons, third only to the Crimson Tide and Tigers. In the same manner that the Geor- gia-Ohio State-Oklahoma triumvi- rate has been knocking on the door to join the first tier, Notre Dame and Washington have been teetering on cracking that second tier. Stanford ranked there as well from 2010-16, but faltered the past two years while losing nine games. Michigan and LSU also have hov- ered on that second-tier level. How- ever, unlike Washington, which has won two of the last three Pac-12 crowns and Notre Dame, which has vanquished both the Wolverines and Tigers each of the last two seasons, Michigan and LSU need to prove themselves much more when the stakes are raised. And so must the Fighting Irish when they visit Georgia, Michigan and Stanford this season. Those three outings will in great part determine if Notre Dame can now be a regular in the high-rent dis- trict of college football — and maybe even some day once again reach that penthouse suite. ✦ Notre Dame Begins No. 9 In AP Poll When the Associated Press released its initial 2019 rankings Aug. 19, the No. 9 placement by Notre Dame was its highest preseason rating from that outlet in head coach Brian Kelly's 10 seasons with the Fighting Irish. It also was the loftiest pro- jection for the team since No. 2 in 2006 under second-year head coach Charlie Weis. The AP, the Amway Coaches Poll/USA Today, Ath- lon Sports, Lindy's Sports and Phil Steele's all had Kelly's troops at No. 9, while Sports Illustrated and Street & Smith's both predicted them No. 7. That would likely equate to either an 11-1 regular sea- son with a Big Six Bowl or College Football Playoff defeat, or a 10-2 regular season with a victory in a Big Six outing for the first time in 26 years. From the AP vote, Notre Dame's 2019 opponents include road games at No. 3 Georgia (Sept. 21), No. 7 Michigan (Oct. 26) and No. 25 Stanford (Nov. 30). Other Notre Dame foes also receiving votes were Virginia (No. 32) Virginia Tech (No. 36) and archrival USC (No. 46) with one point. In the last 25 football seasons from 1994-2018, Notre Dame was ranked 16 times in the AP pre- season top 25 — and last year was the first time it finished higher (No. 5) than where it started (No. 12). Conversely, in the nine other seasons the Fighting Irish were not ranked in the AP preseason top 25 from 1994-2018, they finished in the final ranking five times — including the top 10 in both 2012 (No. 5) and 2005 (No. 9). Those two seasons plus 2019 mark the last three times since 1994 Notre Dame concluded the campaign amongst the top 10. This year the Irish will attempt to place in the fi- nal top 10 in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1992 (No. 4) and 1993 (No. 2). Interestingly, the highest previous AP preseason ranking under Kelly was No. 10 in 2016 — the year Notre Dame finished 4-8. — Lou Somogyi Here have been the preseason AP rankings in Kelly's previous nine seasons: Preseason 2010: Unranked Finished 8-5 and unranked Preseason 2011: No. 16 Finished 8-5 and unranked Preseason 2012: Unranked Finished 12-1 and No. 4 (the highest since No. 2 in 1993) Preseason 2013: No. 14 Finished 9-4 and No. 20 Preseason 2014: No. 17 Finished 8-5 and unranked Preseason 2015: No. 11 Finished 10-3 and No. 11 Preseason 2016: No. 10 Finished 4-8 and unranked Preseason 2017: No. 28 Finished 10-3 and No. 11 Preseason 2018: No. 12 Finished 12-1 and No. 5 Under head coach Brian Kelly, the Fighting Irish are just one of five Football Bowl Subdivision programs to reach the 12-0 regular-season mark twice this decade. PHOTO BY ANGELA DRISKELL www.BLUEANDGOLD.com PRESEASON 2019 31