re: Is ND really any more overrated than LSU?

Keep going back in time and you'll find where the claim ND always receives preseason hype originated. It is true, though, that they've been properly rated as of late. But that hasn't always been the case.

Year - Preseason AP Rank - Postseason AP Rank
1981 - #4 - NR
1982 - #20 - NR
1983 - #5 - NR
1984 - #8 - NR
1985 - #13 - NR
1986 - NR - NR
1987 - #16 - #17
1988 - #13 - #1
1989 - #2 - #2
1990 - #1 - #6
1991 - #7 - #13
1992 - #3 - #4
1993 - #7 - #2
1994 - #3 - NR
1995 - #9 - #11
1996 - #6 - #19
1997 - #11 - NR
1998 - #22 - #22
1999 - #18 - NR
2000 - NR - #15
2001 - #18 - NR
2002 - NR - #17
2003 - #19 - NR
2004 - NR - NR
2005 - NR - #9
2006 - #2 - #17
2007 - NR - NR
2008 - NR - NR
2009 - #23 - NR
2010 - NR - NR
2011 - #16 - NR
2012 - NR - #4
2013 - #14 - #20
2014 - #17 - NR
2015 - #11 - #11
2016 - #10 - NR

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They play an extremely easy schedule every single year, don’t play a conference championship game, can still lose 1-2 games and make the playoffs, and still haven’t won a natty in close to 40 years.

Their SOS is 56th. They’re a joke.

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This is a tougher schedule than any non SEC or Big 10 teams, and it's arguably tougher than some of the Big 10 teams that are ranked. No FCS games and 2 G5, one of which is Navy who is a 100 year rival that has 21 wins the last two seasons.
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Don't give me that shite about playing in a conference championship game. 2017 Bama and 2024 OSU didn't play in their conference championship game and went on to win the natty, and 2017 was still a 4 team playoff. 41% of P4 teams in the 12 team playoffs did not play in their conference championship game.

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This is a tougher schedule than any non SEC or Big 10 teams, and it's arguably tougher than some of the Big 10 teams that are ranked.

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Here's the projected win totals from Vegas for every team on ND's schedule this year.

Wisconsin - 6.5
Rice - 3.5
Michigan State - 4.5
Purdue - 3.5
North Carolina - 4.5
Stanford - 3.5
BYU - 8.5
Navy - 7.5
Miami - 10.5
Boston College - 3.5
SMU - 8.5
Syracuse - 4.5



Vegas has 7 of their 12 games featuring opponents who likely won't even get to 6 wins. They could sleepwalk and get to 9 wins with Wisky, Rice, MSU, Purdue, UNC, Stanford, Boston College, Syracuse & Navy. Get one of Miami, BYU & SMU, 2 of which you get at home, and you're a ten win team.

Their schedules in the upcoming years, if they stay in tact, are pretty damn brutal.

That said, one thing I think hurts Notre Dame, as silly as it sounds, is that prior to Jeremiah Love, Notre Dame really never had any dudes at the skill positions. They never really trot out Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, Todd Gurley, Julio Jones, DeVonta Smith, Percy Harvin, Nick Chubb etc type players. They don’t dominate the eye test

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When you have a schedule like ND's it is pretty hard to drop in the rankings since you only play 2 games you won't win. LSU plays 6-8 "loseable" per year.

When ND has 0-2 losses they get mauled in a "BCS" or playoff game (2024 not withstanding) or trucked in the national championship game .

But when we play in a meaningful bowl against non-SEC competition, during a season where we only have 0-2 losses, we win.

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Yep, take Texas for an example. Notre Dame played 7 teams that didn't even make it to bowl eligibility last season. Texas on the flip side played....


Ohio State - 12-2
San Jose State - 9-4
UTEP - 3-9
Sam Houston - 2-10
Florida - 4-8
OU - 10-3
UK - 5-7
Miss State - 5-8
Vandy - 10-3
UGA - 12-2
Arky - 2-10
A&M - 11-2
Michigan - 9-4

Combined opponent W/L: 94 - 72



Notre Dame opponent W/L: 64-72


Texas' opponents had as many combined wins as Notre Dame's entire schedule just between Ohio State, Michigan, A&M, Georgia, Vandy & OU. But Texas gets left out of the playoff and effectively got punished for playing tough games like OSU.

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This is a tougher schedule than any non SEC or Big 10 teams

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I think they literally play 2-3 teams that had a winning record last year and most of those games were scheduled within the past few years.

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In 2028 for instance that includes 3 SEC games.

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Good for them that their 2028 schedule looks like a respectable one but again, I'm not talking about their schedule two years from now. I'm talking about what their schedule has been in the recent past.

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ND scheduled Wisconsin in 2019, they had just won 77% of their games the previous 5 years before scheduling. How is it ND's fault they completely fell apart as a program after that?

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Notre Dame scheduled the Lambeau game with Wisconsin in 2021, not 2019. Between the 2017-2021, Wisconsin won only 72% of it's games and that's including a huge outlier season in 2017 where they won 13 games. They were basically a 4-5 loss type team when ND scheduled this years game, so not terrible, but it's not like they booked Ohio State or anything.

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USC pulled out last minute, and they replaced them with top 25 BYU who was a fringe playoff team last year.

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This is a misrepresentation. USC wanted to move the game to earlier in the year since they play in the Big Ten and the committee doesn't really reward playing tough games if you lose them, especially late in the year. Notre Dame dug it's heels in because "tradition" and they like to have their few difficult games spread out on the schedule between creampuffs. It's not like USC just said we're suddenly scared of ND.

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Purdue and Michigan St have been weaker, but they are traditional rivals with named trophies and in a P4 conference.

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Purdue has won like 38% of it's games in the last decade and Michigan State has only won 48% of it's games. Put them together and they win around 40% of their games. They're both basically 5-7 football teams over the last decade. Idc that they have a trophy for the game, they both suck.




Notre Dame plays a weaker schedule than many other premier programs, it's just reality.

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By this argument, LSU is also one of the consistently most overrated teams…

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I mean, yeah. LSU has been overrated since 2019. It’s why the last two coaches have been fired.

lol the link he was using in his argument only covers through 2020. It’s actually using years almost exclusively BEFORE 2019