Notre Dame football: Irish 11th in preseason poll

Notre Dame garnered its highest preseason ranking Thursday in the college football coaches poll since 2006, with the Irish checking in at No. 11.

History says that’s not necessarily a good thing. Only once since the Lou Holtz coaching era ended after the 1996 season have the Irish started in the coaches top 25 then finished with a higher ranking. That was 1998, when the preseason No, 24 ND team ended up 22nd in the final poll.

Defending national champion Alabama was a near-unanimous choice at No. 1 in Thursday’s poll, followed by Ohio State, Oregon and ND’s opponent in its Nov. 30 regular-season finale — Stanford.

The highest preseason ranking for ND in the coaches poll in the BCS Era (1998-present) came in 2006, when the Irish started the season at No. 3.

The AP writers preseason poll will be released Aug. 17. The Irish open the 2013 season Aug. 31 at home against Temple.

USA Today Coaches Poll

RK TEAM RECORD PTS

1 Alabama (58) 0-0 1545

2 Ohio State (3) 0-0 1427

3 Oregon 0-0 1397

4 Stanford 0-0 1262

5 Georgia 0-0 1250

6 Texas A&M (1) 0-0 1215

7 South Carolina 0-0 1136

8 Clemson 0-0 1047

9 Louisville 0-0 1010

10 Florida 0-0 930

11 Notre Dame 0-0 872

12 Florida State 0-0 844

13 LSU 0-0 797

14 Oklahoma State 0-0 726

15 Texas 0-0 622

16 Oklahoma 0-0 620

17 Michigan 0-0 589

18 Nebraska 0-0 426

19 Boise State 0-0 420

20 TCU 0-0 400

21 UCLA 0-0 202

22 Northwestern 0-0 186

23 Wisconsin 0-0 172

24 USC 0-0 165

25 Oregon State 0-0 135

Others receiving votes: Kansas State 113, Miami (FL) 101, Michigan State 89, Baylor 80, Virginia Tech 65, Fresno State 62, Arizona State 51, Ole Miss 32, Vanderbilt 29, Utah State 23, Brigham Young 20, North Carolina 19, Northern Illinois 19, Tulsa 9, San Jose State 8, Ohio 8, Arizona 5, Cincinnati 3, East Carolina 3, Mississippi State 3, Kent State 3, Washington 3, UCF 2, Tennessee 1, Toledo 1, Rutgers 1, Arkansas 1, Arkansas State 1