Notre Dame is one of three undefeated teams remaining in college football at the moment, but that is not enough to allow the Fighting Irish to control their own destiny. The other two undefeated teams, Kansas State and Oregon, are currently ahead of Notre Dame in the BCS standings. Should all three teams win out, the most likely scenario is that Oregon and Kansas State would play in the BCS National Championship Game.
At the moment, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly insists his team is simply focused on winning and not worrying about the BCS rankings. But if the season comes to a close and the Irish still have no losses, Kelly said he will spring into campaigning mode.
“I’m just not good enough to be able to do both,” Kelly said on SiriusXM College Sports Nation, via CoachingSearch.com. “I’m challenged enough on a day-to-day basis to keep my guys focused on Wake Forest. The rest of the stuff, let’s see how Notre Dame does. Let’s take Wake Forest, see what happens there, and then USC. Then, if we get to the point after USC that we’re undefeated, I’ll go on Oprah if I have to. Maybe I’ll come back on Sirius.
“But for right now, quite honestly, I’m just going to worry about winning football games.”
Notre Dame’s two remaining games are at home against Wake Forest and at USC. Kansas State plays Baylor on the road before hosting Texas, and Oregon faces Stanford at home before closing out the season on the road against Oregon State. Of the three teams, Notre Dame has the easiest remaining schedule. That being said, all three teams have their hands full.
My guess is the BCS standings work themselves out. The three remaining undefeated teams face a total of four nationally-ranked opponents before the conclusion of the regular season. I’d be surprised if an upset didn’t occur in one of those games. If not, Oprah had better open up some air time for Kelly to brag about his No. 3-ranked Fighting Irish.