With CJ Carr leading a talent-heavy roster, analysts project Marcus Freeman’s squad as a national powerhouse, trailing only Ohio State in a competitive landscape of elite programs.
It's the time in the offseason where major outlets are releasing their Post-Spring Top 25 rankings. We released our post-spring rankings at Irish Breakdown last week. USA Today also released their rankings last week and there were some interesting takeaways. After some evaluations through spring training, Erick Schmidt and Paul Myerberg ranked Notre Dame as the No. 2 overall team in the country coming out of spring.
They had the Irish ranked ahead of Texas at No. 3, Georgia at No. 4 and Indiana at No. 5. The only team Schmidt and Myerberg ranked the Irish behind were the Ohio State Buckeyes who came in as the No. 1 overall team coming out of spring practices. There were a lot of similarities between USA Today's and Irish Breakdowns rankings, one of them was the belief that the Fighting Irish are amongst the best teams in the country.
"This shapes up to be Marcus Freeman’s best team. There are no questions at quarterback with CJ Carr returning for his second season as a starter. He is set to shoulder more of the offensive load with new running backs replacing Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price. Jordan Faison anchors the wide receiver room with the hope Jaden Greathouse and Ohio State transfer Mylan Graham will be significant contributors.
"Bryce Young is the leader of a defensive line that added transfers Francis Brewu (Pittsburgh) and Keon Keeley (Alabama) to bolster the front seven," Schmidt and Myerberg continued. "But the biggest strength of the defense will a secondary with Leonard Moore, Christian Gray and Colorado transfer DJ McKinney."
The list of returning players on offense and defense for the Irish is long and impressive. Even Schmidt and Myerberg forgot to add players like Guerby Lambert, Anthonie Knapp, Boubacar Traore, Drayk Bowen, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, Adon Shuler and Tae Johnson. But it just goes to show the amount of talent that Notre Dame has on their roster ahead of the 2026 season. They return all three coordinators, two captains on defense and a returning signal caller under center for the first time since 2020.
There were some other aspects of this ranking that we did not share on the Irish Breakdown Post-Spring Top 25. I think Oklahoma could be a sleeper team for this year's College Football Playoffs, but I don't think they should be ranked ahead of an Oregon team that returns a starting quarterback, depth of skilled talent on the perimeter on offense and defense, a talented running back room and all four of their defensive lineman from 2025.
USC is also ranked very high compared to where we had them (No. 18). I'm not onboard the Trojan hype train just yet. Head coach Lincoln Riley has a lot to prove before I can consider his program a Top 10 team in the country. They have pieces that I like, but we're also talking about a program who failed to make the CFP while they had a Heisman Trophy winner under center in back to back seasons and much deeper wide receiver room than the one they have coming into 2026.
Florida State cracking the Top 25 is also an interesting choice. Outside of 2022 and 2023, head coach Mike Norvell hasn't engineered a winning season down in Tallahassee and in the last two seasons, he's gone 7-17. When you just look at the roster, it has Top 25 level talent on it, but that was also the case in 2024 when they went 2-10 and in 2025 when they went 5-7.
It was good, however, to see Boise State crack their Top 25; USA Today is the first major outlet I've seen put a G5 team inside of their post-spring rankings. Clemson is another team we had in common. Their 2025 season was an anomaly compared to what Dabo Swinney has done with the Tigers during his tenure. I could very well see them making a push for the ACC Championship and contend with Miami at the end of the season.
USA TODAY'S Post-Spring Top 25
1. Ohio State Buckeyes
2. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
3. Texas Longhorns
4. Georgia Bulldogs
5. Indiana Hoosiers
6. Miami Hurricanes
7. Oklahoma Sooners
8. Oregon Ducks
9. Ole Miss Rebels
10. USC Trojans
11. Texas A&M Aggies
12. Alabama Crimson Tide
13. Michigan Wolverines
14. BYU Cougars
15. Texas Tech Red Raiders
16. Penn State Nittany Lions
17. LSU Tigers
18. SMU Mustangs
19. Utah Utes
20. Tennessee Volunteers
21. Iowa Hawkeyes
22. Florida State Seminoles
23. Houston Cougars
24. Clemson Tigers
25. Boise State Broncos
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