Notre Dame will rely on its defense and offensive line this season, so when the “Counting Down The Irish” top 25 includes 11 defenders and all five starting offensive linemen, it makes sense. That logic was confirmed when the top five consisted of solely those such players.
I did not submit a top-25 ranking for the annual exercise. Some philosophical piece of me feels the composite polling presents better without the added ballot. An even dozen votes provides enough of a sample size, and the core of the credit then goes to those 12. They deserve it, they took the time to aid this space.