Nov 10, 2012; Boston, MA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish linebacker Manti Te
The Irish may be playing out of their minds but luck is clearly not on their side — neither is the BCS system. After winning yet another game on Saturday and improving to 10-0 on the season, the Irish still can’t make it past No. 3 in the BCS rankings even after the former No. 1 Crimson Tide were knocked off by Texas A&M.
Speaking of Alabama, their fall wasn’t nearly as serve as it could have been as they slip back just three spots to No. 4 and could logically play for the National Championship this season, but they’ll need a lot of help, a miracle and a prayer to even get a whiff of a chance. Instead, it’s Colin Klein and the Kansas State Wildcats taking Alabama’s spot atop the BCS with Chip Kelly’s Oregon squad moving up to No. 2.
But the story is how Notre Dame has hung in games the entire year but are still ranked No. 3 in the BCS. The reason for your argument could go either way, as some in favor of Notre Dame as the No. 2 team in the country will say the Irish have beaten more formidable opponents than both Kansas State and Oregon despite the low scores across the board. Those against Notre Dame being so high in the BCS will cite those low scores and the near overtime losses the Irish have had this year and find No. 3 a stretch.
BCS STANDINGS
| BCS | Harris Poll | USA Today | Computer Rankings | ||||||||||||||
| RK | TEAM | AVG | PVS | RK | PTS | % | RK | PTS | % | AVG | A&H | RB | CM | KM | JS | PW | % |
| 1 | Kansas State | .9674 | 2 | 2 | 2774 | .9649 | 2 | 1427 | .9675 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | .970 |
| 2 | Oregon | .9497 | 3 | 1 | 2844 | .9892 | 1 | 1460 | .9898 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | .870 |
| 3 | Notre Dame | .9396 | 4 | 3 | 2634 | .9162 | 3 | 1346 | .9125 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .990 |
| 4 | Alabama | .8534 | 1 | 4 | 2494 | .8675 | 5 | 1243 | .8427 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 5 | .850 |
| 5 | Georgia | .8328 | 5 | 5 | 2398 | .8341 | 4 | 1260 | .8542 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 6 | .810 |
| 6 | Florida | .7955 | 6 | 7 | 2113 | .7350 | 7 | 1079 | .7315 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | .920 |
| 7 | LSU | .7331 | 7 | 8 | 2082 | .7242 | 8 | 1040 | .7051 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 7 | .770 |
| 8 | Texas A&M | .6621 | 15 | 10 | 1842 | .6407 | 10 | 967 | .6556 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 8 | .690 |
| 9 | South Carolina | .6349 | 8 | 11 | 1732 | .6024 | 11 | 903 | .6122 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 9 | .690 |
| 10 | Florida State | .6071 | 10 | 6 | 2175 | .7565 | 6 | 1143 | .7749 | 17 | 16 | 17 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 16 | .290 |
When all is said and done, we know what tickles the BCS: blowouts and beating name schools. Oregon has made it their thing to run up the score on teams and have beaten name opponents but not necessarily ranked schools. Kansas State’s crowing achievement thus far is knocking off Oklahoma on the road in an impressive win.
There’s still two regular season games left for Notre Dame to leave their mark including a season finale against the USC Trojans. Kansas State has one ranked opponents left in Texas (who really scares no one), while Oregon has two ranked games left against No. 13 Stanford, who beat USC when they were ranked No. 2, and No. 16 Oregon State who knocked off a highly ranked Wisconsin team earlier this year.
Notre Dame, still being an Independent, won’t have a championship game and is in the best position to win out and wait out a chance at the title. There’s still a lot of football left, and a lot can happen but the National Championship picture is starting to look a lot more clear.
Topics: BCS, Kansas State Wildcats, NCAA, Notre Dame Irish, Oregon Ducks
