Notre Dame ranked 10th in preseason poll; Alabama, Clemson 1- 2

In the midst of a very bad weekend for Notre Dame, there was a bit of good news. The preseason AP Top 25, released Sunday morning, had the Irish at No. 10, its highest preseason ranking since 2006.

Alabama and Clemson, which met in last season’s national- title game, are Nos. 1 and 2, with Oklahoma and Florida State rounding out the top four.

As Irish coach Brian Kelly sees it, at least one of those teams will have to step aside to make room for the Irish.

“We have only one goal,” he said early in training camp, “and that is to be one of four teams selected for the playoff.”

Yet it will represent a rare achievement if Notre Dame finishes even one spot higher than 10th. As pointed out Sunday by the South Bend Tribune, none of the last 12 Irish teams to appear in the preseason poll ended the season with a higher ranking — and nine of those 12 teams finished outside the Top 25.

That’s awful — on the part of the AP voters, that is. Clearly, they’ve overestimated the Irish a few too many times.

Meanwhile, in the Big Ten, Michigan State and Iowa, which met in last season’s Big Ten title game, are ranked 12th and 17th, re- spectively.

Both are looking up at — surprise, surprise — Ohio State and Michigan. The Buckeyes are at No. 6, one spot ahead of the Wolverines.

But, hey, why should Michigan State be higher than third in its own East division anyway? The last three MSU teams merely were 24- 2 against conference opponents.