Only two teams on the 2015 Notre Dame schedule — at Clemson (Oct. 3) and USC at home (Oct. 17) — are
consistently projected ahead of Notre Dame. Here are some of the "way too early" predictions.
ESPN — Among its 37 college football writers — including former Blue & Gold Illustrated assistant editor Dan
Murphy — 36 had Ohio State back in the four-team playoff. Only one of the staff members, Edward Aschoff,
picked Notre Dame to make the four-team field. Of the 12 Irish opponents, USC was picked by 23 to make the
playoff, while Clemson had five votes and Stanford one.
ESPN's lead writer for college football, Mark Schlabach, picked Notre Dame to finish No. 12. The only 2015
Irish foes ranked higher were USC (No. 4) and Clemson (No. 9). A third, Georgia Tech, was No. 18.
USA Today — Head coach Brian Kelly's Irish come in at No. 22. Extremely surprising was Stanford's No. 4
ranking. The Irish close the regular season with the Cardinal Nov. 28 and have not won there since 2007.
Clemson is No. 12, USC No. 13 and Georgia Tech No. 23.
FOX Sports — Notre Dame's highest rating comes here with a No. 10 placement. USC at No. 9 is the lone
foe ranked higher. Georgia Tech, Stanford and Clemson come in at No. 18, No. 19 and No. 20, respectively.
Athlon — Notre Dame is No. 19, with two opponents ahead of it: USC (No. 10) and Clemson (No. 17), while
Georgia Tech is No. 22. Texas, the Irish opener Sept. 5 at home, made an appearance at No. 26.
NationalChamps.net — Notre Dame is No. 16. The lone foe ahead of it is USC at No. 10. Georgia Tech is
No. 22.
CBS Sports — Columnist Dennis Dodd slipped the Irish into the No. 25 spot. USC (No. 9), Clemson (No. 11)
and Georgia Tech (No. 22) were ahead of them.
— Lou Somogyi
UNDER THE DOME
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