We’re inching closer and closer to the start of the 2026 regular season in college football. It’s that time of the offseason where outlets like Athlon Sports and Lindy’s Sports start to release their Preseason Top 25 projected rankings. Notre Dame was consistently ranked inside the Top 5 in every major outlet’s post-spring Top 25 rankings. Athlon Sports has the Fighting Irish at No. 4 in their projected preseason rankings.
“After last year’s playoff snub, the ’26 season is all about revenge for the Fighting Irish,” Steven Lassan explained. “And making the postseason isn’t simply the goal for Notre Dame — head coach Marcus Freeman’s team has all of the ingredients to bring a national title back to South Bend. Quarterback CJ Carr navigated early ups and downs last season to emerge as one of the top signal-callers in the nation.
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“The Fighting Irish return one of the deeper receiving corps the program has assembled in recent years, and the ground game will remain strong behind Aneyas Williams with Jeremiyah Love off to the NFL,” Lassan continued. How the line jells after a couple of players missed spring practice due to injury is the biggest concern on offense. After a rocky start, Notre Dame’s defense played significantly better down the stretch. No opponent scored more than 24 points over the final nine games. Freeman’s team could be favored in all 12 of its regular-season contests.”
Notre Dame only ranked behind the Ohio State Buckeyes at No. 1, the Georgia Bulldogs at No. 2 and the Texas Longhorns at No. 3 in these projected rankings. The Irish return the best roster in college football, both their offensive and defensive coordinators and have their first returning starting quarterback since 2020.
A lot of the conversation around this program from last season were their combined four-point losses to Miami in the season opener and their one-point home loss to Texas A&M. For the first time since 1966, a season where they only allowed 38 total points on defense, Notre Dame racked up 10-straight wins and they were all by double digits. Several key members on offense and defense return from that squad and they’ll look to do more of the same this upcoming season.
Their schedule sets up favorably as they don’t have premier Top 10 or Top 20 matchups to begin the season. They’ll have the opportunity to pick up several ranked wins at the end of October through the month of November, something they didn’t have the opportunity to do last season. Athlon Sports ranks Miami at No. 7, BYU at No. 16 and SMU at No. 22 in their projected preseason rankings. Notre Dame plays all three from October 17 to the end of the regular season.
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1. Ohio State Buckeyes
2. Georgia Bulldogs
3. Texas Longhorns
4. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
5. Indiana Hoosiers
6. Oregon Ducks
7. Miami Hurricanes
8. Oklahoma Sooners
9. Texas A&M Aggies
10. LSU Tigers
11. Ole Miss Rebels
12. Texas Tech Red Raiders
13. Michigan Wolverines
14. USC Trojans
15. Alabama Crimson Tide
16. BYU Cougars
17. Washington Huskies
18. Penn State Nittany Lions
19. Houston Cougars
20. Utah Utes
21. Tennessee Volunteers
22. SMU Mustangs
23. Louisville Cardinals
24. Boise State Broncos
25. Iowa Hawkeyes
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Florida Gators, Clemson Tigers, South Carolina Gamecocks, Missouri Tigers, Virginia Tech Hokies, Kansas State Wildcats, Arizona Wildcats
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