Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1546494
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 12, 2026 5 DON'T GET OVERCONFIDENT Despite the turbulence of eligibility, portals and the proper number of teams for playoffs, football in August is back! I enjoy reading about the specific team nuances that every team needs to ad- dress in the various preseason periodi- cals. However, for Notre Dame, as for any team that wants to be in the hunt in December, the priorities are basically the same: 1. Develop a defense that can take over a game when needed. 2. Find the 60 players that will make significant contributions during the season. 3. Create and nurture a team atmo- sphere that supports being competitive, adjusts to the academics, and minimizes other distractions. If aggressively pursued, the winning will take care of itself as long as the coaching staff emphasizes preparation and consistency. As Lou Holtz used to warn, there will be at least three events that will challenge the priorities. To me, those three events are Miami, BYU and overconfidence. Mico Holguin '80 Mr. Holguin, that looks like a pretty good blueprint for success to us. We would say the biggest hurdle may be overconfidence. With their highest preseason ranking in 20 years and a schedule built for suc- cess, it will be up to head coach Marcus Freeman and his staff to keep the Irish focused on winning in the " now" and taking it one challenge at a time. FAN FORUM BE HEARD! Send your letters to: steve.downey@on3.com or mail to: Blue & Gold Illustrated, P. O. Box 2331, Durham, NC 27702 In August, Notre Dame earned its highest ranking in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 since 2006, coming in at No. 4. Only Ohio State at No. 1, Oregon at No. 2 and Georgia at No. 3 were slotted ahead of the Fighting Irish, who re- ceived six first-place votes. The Buckeyes led the way with 40 first-place votes, followed by the Ducks with 14, Indiana with eight and then the Irish. Here's what some Irish fans had to say about Notre Dame's lofty preseason ranking on our message board at BlueandGold.com. arrowfan624: Little lower than I expected tbh. leetwoone: BYU at 14 to start the year has the potential to be a gift going into October if they're undefeated. SackLakeCity: Flip ND with UGA and I'm good with the top 5. bradenmi: Rece Davis voted us #1. The ping-pong session with CJ Carr did the trick. thomasna: I'd have Oregon, ND, OSU, Texas and IU as the top 5 in that order. Ohio State lost too many studs off their defense to start out at #1 imo. o_fedman: No question that the ND schedule is weak, but they do play 3 teams ranked in the preseason top-20. SD123: I'm very happy with the placement. Room to move up, less yapping about ND. Let's go! Irishdynasty: LEAVE NO DOUBT!!!! Mizzo: We should all be good with this. o_tivs31: Great news. Hope it helps with the chip on the shoulder. Miami, BYU and SMU all being in the top 20 is really good for us, not that it matters, at the end of the day, go 11-1 and we are in. GQSmoove3: I'm pretty surprised how many first place votes they got. Expected that to be more split across the top teams. With you on some of the defensive questions where I would not start them #1. mgbirish: Crazy plenty of other teams don't play 3 teams ranked in the top 20 and nobody bats an eye. It's a tired lazy take especially with where CFB is right now. 9/10 teams that play "crazy hard" schedule has no chance at even making a bowl game, let alone a playoff game. Matt10620: We are the only ranked team on Miami's schedule. TheDanoMan: In the CFP era, the AP poll means nothing to me anymore. There is only one that matters and it doesn't come out until November. Bigjoe22: Vegas has us as co-favs to win the title so it doesn't make sense for these writers to have us at 4. Java65: Cig is an irritating, conceited, loud-mouth but I feel he's going to make people look foolish again. dcpittman: Starting the season any higher feels like the kiss of death. I'd be fine anywhere in the top 10. Preseason rankings are often very off — Clem- son and Penn State last year for example! aNDyIrish: Fun facts: Ohio State has been #1 eight times in the AP pre- season poll and has never won the Natty in those years. The SEC received a total of zero first-place votes. Ditto Miami. We received 6 first-place votes. Clemson is unranked for the first time in 15 years. The_Juniper_Run: Just saw an interesting stat: 10 of the 12 national champs in the playoff era have been ranked 2-6 in the preseason AP Poll. The only exceptions are 2025 Indiana (preseason 20) and 2017 Alabama (preseason 1). Of course many teams have also started in the 2-6 spots and had poor seasons. But overall, it's a great place to be! JOIN THE CONVERSATION AT BLUEANDGOLD.COM! One important thing head coach Marcus Freeman will have to guard against with his team this season is overconfidence. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER FROM THE WEBSITE .com .com Editor's Note: In June, the NCAA approved thew new "5-for-5" age-based eligibility model. It gives student- athletes up to five years of competition within a five-year window. The five-year window begins at whichever comes first: initial full-time college enrollment (including JUCO or non-NCAA schools) or the start of the aca- demic year following the athlete's 19th birthday, effectively eliminating the traditional redshirt terminology. As a result, we will be adopting the College Sports Communicators recommendation to use the follow- ing class year designations for the 2026-27 academic year: freshman (five years of eligibility remaining), sophomore (four), junior (three), senior (two) and fifth-year (one).