247Sports: Notre Dame Is An Overrated Team Heading Into 2023

247Sports college football writer Brad Crawford lists Notre Dame as an overrated program heading into the 2023 season

The perception about the 2023 Notre Dame football team varies, with some viewing the Irish as a dark horse playoff contender. Don't put 247Sports in that list of outlets that views Notre Dame as that kind of team. In fact, 247Sports college football writer Brad Crawford thinks Notre Dame is one of the more overrated teams for the upcoming season.

In a breakdown of his most overrated and underrated teams, Crawford listed Notre Dame as one of his three most overrated squads.

"ESPN's FPI points to Notre Dame likely finishing 9-3 this season, so does that warrant top 10 love as a playoff contender? That's up for debate. The Fighting Irish earned our "overrated" distinction this time last summer as well with a preseason top 10 ranking and ended 8-4 under then first-year coach Marcus Freeman before winning the Gator Bowl against South Carolina. Questions at quarterback have been answered with Wake Forest transfer Sam Hartman, but the team did lose its top assistant, Tommy Rees, to Alabama. Leading rusher Audric Estime is back, however, Notre Dame watched Logan Diggs (820 yards rushing, four touchdowns) enter the portal after spring and all-time program sack leader Isaiah Foskey left for the draft. Those are major losses for a team that has to play NC State, Ohio State, Clemson, Duke and USC." - Brad Crawford, 247 Sports

Notre Dame made the overrated list along with Oregon State and Ole Miss. His underrated teams were Miami, Oklahoma, Iowa, Washington and surprisingly, Alabama. 

It's interesting that the arrival of former Notre Dame OC Tommy Rees and quarterback Tyler Buchner - who got beat out for the starting job this spring - are perceived to be factors in Alabama out-playing its No. 5 ranking.

IB REBUTTAL 

In Crawford's analysis he had the Irish ranked No. 9 based on the average preseason ranking. His initial reasoning is that the ESPN FPI has the Irish projected to go 9-3. He then asks if that's good enough to be a Top 10 team, while completely ignoring the fact every team ranked below Notre Dame in the FPI is also projected to be 9-3 or worse.

The FPI also has three of Notre Dame's opponents ranked ahead of the Irish, with Ohio State ranking No. 1, USC ranking No. 7 and Clemson ranking No. 8.

If you're using the FPI as your justification for Notre Dame not being deserving to be a Top 10 team, it seems odd and lazy to ignore that the combination of top notch opponents, and the fact no one behind them has a better projected record.

Crawford's focus on Rees being Notre Dame's "top assistant" from last season was also puzzling. Notre Dame's offense was a primary factor in Notre Dame's disappointing 8-4 regular season, and the top lost assistant was Harry Hiestand, not Rees.

If you want to argue that Notre Dame should be ranked closer to 11-13 than No. 9, I would disagree but wouldn't argue too vehemently. The Irish must prove they are the team that dismantled Clemson and North Carolina, and not the team that lost to Marshall and Stanford. Ending the season by winning six of their final seven games should prove Notre Dame is trending in the right direction.

But is that seriously enough to warrant putting Notre Dame in the overrated list? You're not going to push back on Texas being in the Top 10? Florida State being borderline Top 5? Notre Dame is the pick?

It strikes me as lazy analysis in many ways. We'll see if Notre Dame is as good as I think they can be in 2023. The schedule should actually be tougher than it was a season ago, but Notre Dame is also going into year two of Freeman's tenure, year two of the Al Golden system, and they landed some very important transfers at key positions. Even 247Sports acknowledged that Hartman was the top transfer in the portal.

Anyone that watched Notre Dame a season ago and looks objectively at the team has to realize that just competent quarterback play results in at least 10 wins. Yes, Notre Dame has losses in Foskey and Michael Mayer, but the Irish lost very little outside of those two stars. The addition of Hartman and transfers like Javontae Jean-Baptiste (Ohio State), Thomas Harper (Oklahoma State) and Antonio Carter (Rhode Island) help ease losses in some instances, and add a boost in talent in another.

If you want to debate that Notre Dame has a lot to prove before predicting a playoff appearance, I'm with you. Telling me that a borderline Top 10 ranked Notre Dame is overrated, and then complain that Alabama is underrated due to picking up some Notre Dame pieces is just misguided analysis in my opinion.

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