re: This classic sums up Notre Dame and their pre-season ranking quite well

ND returns 17 of 22 starters from last year's team, but it's even "better" than that. The only starter on D lost is Cody Riggs at CB. He's being replaced by KeiVarae Russell. Russell (projected first round pick) was a starter on the 2012 NCG team as a freshman and started on the 2013 team as a sophomore, but was suspended all of last season. So essentially, all 11 positions on D for ND this year have a past starter returning.

On O, four starters are gone. Two ran out of eligibility. But two others (Golson and Hegarty) were basically not guaranteed of keeping their starting spots this year, and went to FSU and Oregon, respectively, for their fifth years. It's possible their backups could be better.

If almost any other P5 team in the country went 8-5 the previous year, beat LSU in a bowl and returned what I described in the first two paragraphs and was ranked No. 11 (not even in the top 10), hardly anybody would say anything, and people might even think it's reasonable. But because it's the Irish, they're overrated.