We can officially say we were wrong now. Thursday evening took care of that. Before the season, we predicted an option run to glory for Pat White and Steve Slaton but Louisville took care of making us 0-for-2 on our national title game prediction. West Virginia vs. Notre Dame will not happen. Heck, at least one of those teams might not even make a BCS Bowl.
With California jumping Notre Dame, it offers an interesting scenario within the BCS. So while we don't think there is any chance of this actually happening, here is one more potentially convoluted way Notre Dame can make the national championship game. We will repeat, though, that this is highly, highly unlikely.
BCS Standings: 1. Ohio State .987; 2. Michigan .971; 3. Louisville .891; 4. Florida .802; 5. Texas .800; 6. Auburn .781; 7. USC .745; 8. California .733; 9. Notre Dame .732; 10. West Virginia .574.
A conference breakdown:
ACC -- Georgia Tech is currently the top-rated team from this conference at the No. 18 position. Wake Forest is one behind at No. 19. The Irish -- for national championship and strength of schedule purposes -- needs the Yellow Jackets to win the ACC.
Big East -- Thursday night is the game of the year...again...in the Big East. BCS No. 3 Louisville vs. BCS No. 13 Rutgers. Over here, we're thinking the Scarlet Knights are going to knock off Louisville on Thursday. Plus, for Notre Dame purposes that is exactly what the Irish need. Then, Notre Dame will start rooting for WVU on Dec. 2, when it faces Rutgers. In all seriousness, though, who would have thought Rutgers would ever play in a game that had national title implications. Best story in college football this season.
Big Ten -- No surprise here, although Michigan got a bit of a scare from Ball State. The Fort Wayne contingent on the Cardinals -- MiQuale Lewis, Jakeem Gregory among others -- must be proud. OSU vs. Michigan on Nov. 18 is still a winner-to-Glendale game as these two teams have an .08 lead on the rest of the BCS field.
Big 12 -- Notre Dame needs Texas to lose again somewhere down the line. With a watered-down conference, though, that might not happen.
Pac-10 -- The Irish need USC to beat Cal next weekend. If the Bears win, Notre Dame is officially out of the national championship race barring a massive upset. Here's why: the loser of USC-Cal will drop behind Notre Dame. The winner could get a good computer bump. So if USC wins, Notre Dame will follow right behind and potentially set up a BCS 6 vs. 7 or so matchup in Los Angeles right after Thanksgiving.
SEC -- This is the biggest non-Texas problem for Notre Dame. The Irish need Arkansas to hold off Auburn and get into the SEC title game. Then, Arkansas needs to beat Florida, which has clinched one-half of the SEC title game slot. Of course, the most interesting scenario is this -- if Notre Dame loses to USC, it would need Florida to beat Arkansas/Auburn to have a good hold on an at-large appearance.
Other conferences -- Boise, Boise, Boise. Boise State and its blue turf and its bowl-no-team-wishes-for will likely head south for New Year's. As long as Boise stays ahead of the ACC representative, it is guaranteed a BCS slot. This provides a fun, Utah-like storyline but also could spell problems for Notre Dame if it has two losses. The BCS will be required to take Boise, will definitely take the OSU-Michigan loser and a second SEC team, especially if Arkansas wins the SEC. If Cal wins the Pac-10, it could be USC vs. Notre Dame for a BCS slot.
Bowl projections:
Orange: Georgia Tech vs. Rutgers
Sugar: Notre Dame vs. Auburn
Rose: Michigan vs. California
Fiesta: Texas vs. Boise State
National Championship game: Ohio State vs. Florida
Other tidbits:
- Notre Dame recruit Mike Ragone has been selected for the U.S. Army All-American game. In the release, though, Irish coach Charlie Weis' name had an extra 'S' on it.
- Looking for the Notre Dame-Air Force game on television this weekend? It's on CSTV and if you get Comcast Digital Cable in the Fort Wayne area, you get a free upgrade on your box which will allow you to watch CSTV, channel 274 in your remote but for one Saturday at least, No. 1 in your heart.
-By Michael Rothstein of The Journal Gazette
However, if Cal beats USC and USC beats ND, ND coulc fall out of the top 12 and would not even make the BCS!
Posted by: Denis Nolan | November 07, 2006 at 11:12 AM