UNDER THE DOME
NOTRE DAME NO. 16 IN PRESEASON
"CONSENSUS" POLL
The four-team College Football Playoff that begins this year is predicted by
many a soothsayer to eventually expand to eight teams in the future.
For 2014, Notre Dame might prefer a "Sweet 16." No. 16 is the consensus
rating of the Fighting Irish by 15 preseason outlets ranging from longtime
print publications such as Athlon Sports, Lindy's, Sporting News and Phil Steele's
College Football to myriad websites from ESPN.com to SI.com.
None of the 15 had Notre Dame rated higher than No. 12 (by SI.com),
and none lower than No. 23 (CollegeFootballUniverseBlog.com). FoxS-
ports.com ranked only 20 teams and did not have Notre Dame among
them. The Florida State Seminoles, whom the Fighting Irish play in Tallahas-
see on Oct. 18, is the overwhelming favorite to repeat as national champions,
with Alabama also expected to make a serious bid for its fourth title in the
last six seasons.
Here are the College Football Playoff projections for 2014-15, based on
25 points for a first-place vote, 24 for second, 23 for third, etc., from the 15
sources.
1. Florida State (14-0 in 2013; 11 first-place votes), 367 voting points
2. Alabama (11-2, 2 first-place votes), 354 points
3. Oklahoma (11-2, 1 first-place vote), 335 points
4. Ohio State (12-2, 1 first-place vote), 315 points
5. Auburn (12-2), 305 points
6. Oregon (11-2), 300 points
7. Michigan State (13-1), 276 points
8. UCLA (10-3), 249 points
9. Stanford (11-3), 230 points
10. South Carolina (11-2), 228 points
11. Baylor (11-2), 221 points
12. LSU (10-3), 217 points
13. Georgia (8-5), 194 points
14. Wisconsin (9-4), 148 points
15. USC (10-4), 146 points
16. Notre Dame (9-4), 117 points
While three 2014 Notre Dame foes are ranked ahead of it — No. 1 Florida
State, No. 9 Stanford and No. 15 USC — four more were among the 46 teams
that received at least one point: Arizona State (Nov. 8) was No. 21 with 63
points, Louisville (Nov. 22) and North Carolina (Oct. 11) were tied at No. 28
with 23 points, and Michigan (Sept. 6) was No. 30 with 22 points.
