Where Notre Dame ranks in 2023 post-spring ESPN SP+ rankings
If anything, Notre Dame fans have this going for them with the seasons switching from spring to summer this month: according to Bill Connelly of ESPN’s SP+ metric, the Fighting Irish are actually closer in quality to two-time defending national champion Georgia than they were four months ago.
Connelly updated his hierarchy of the top teams in college football with the conclusion of teams’ spring schedules in the last month and a half. Notre Dame stayed put at No. 15 in the country, but the Irish’s overall rating went from 18.9 to 19.3. Georgia, still the No. 1 team in the nation according to Connelly (and pretty much everyone else with a pulse) saw its rating dip from 31.7 to 29.9.
The difference is marginal, but it’s something.
Connelly’s rankings combine algorithms for returning production, recent recruiting and recent history to come up with offensive, defensive and overall metrics that analytically forecast which teams should be the best in the country. A score of 0.0 is completely average. The higher the rating, the better the team.
We haven’t seen much movement at the very top of the rankings, but there’s plenty to talk about,” Connelly wrote.
Here is the latest edition of Connelly’s rankings.
2023 post-spring ESPN SP+ rankings
| Team | Rating | Offense | Defense |
| 1. Georgia | 29.9 | 41.9 (9) | 11.9 (3) |
| 2. Ohio State | 29.6 | 46.4 (2) | 16.7 (13) |
| 3. Michigan | 29.2 | 42.0 (7) | 12.9 (4) |
| 4. Alabama | 27.9 | 44.2 (5) | 16.3 (10) |
| 5. LSU | 25.2 | 41.6 (10) | 16.4 (12) |
| 6. Tennessee | 23.9 | 45.5 (3) | 21.6 (31) |
| 7. USC | 23.6 | 46.4 (1) | 22.8 (39) |
| 8. Penn State | 23.5 | 37.5 (22) | 14.0 (6) |
| 9. Texas | 23.3 | 40.4 (11) | 17.1 (16) |
| 10. Florida State | 21.6 | 38.4 (19) | 16.8 (14) |
| 11. Oregon | 21.5 | 44.5 (4) | 23.0 (42) |
| 12. Clemson | 21.3 | 37.6 (21) | 16.3 (11) |
| 13. Oklahoma | 19.7 | 42.1 (6) | 22.4 (37) |
| 14. Utah | 19.4 | 40.0 (13) | 20.6 (26) |
| 15. Notre Dame | 19.3 | 36.3 (26) | 17.0 (15) |
Notre Dame plays three of the top 12 teams in the SP+ this fall, including the country’s top two offenses in USC and Ohio State. The other opponent, Clemson, is a road game in November.
The Fighting Irish’s schedule certainly isn’t easy. Connelly’s predictive metrics bear that out.
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