For now, I have more immediate concerns - predicting the BCS selections. There are still some Conference championship games to be played, but here are my predictions coming out of the weekend.
| National Championship game | Ohio State Buckeyes | v. | Southern Cal Trojans |
| Glendale, AZ | BCS #1 | BCS #2 | |
| Rose Bowl | Michigan Wolverines | v. | Louisiana State Tigers |
| Pasadena, CA | Big-Ten Replacement (automatic #3 BCS selection) | Pac-10 Replacement (at-large, no automatic berth) | |
| Sugar Bowl | Florida Gators | v. | Notre Dame Fightin' Irish |
| New Orleans, LA | SEC Champ | At-large #1 (at-large, no automatic berth unless ranked #8 or higher) | |
| Orange Bowl | Georgia Tech Yellowjackets | v. | Louisville Cardinals |
| Miami, FL | ACC Champ | At-large #2 (Big East champ) | |
| Fiesta Bowl | Oklahoma Sooners | v. | Boise State Broncos |
| Glendale, AZ | Big 12 Champ | At-large #3 (automatic non-BCS conference champ) |
There is a possibility that the Rose Bowl, disgusted with the matchups they've gotten since joining the BCS, chooses Notre Dame to get in a rematch with Michigan rather than a less traditional matchup. Notre Dame has played in the Rose Bowl before, in 1925.
There is an extremely remote possibility that Notre Dame falls out of the BCS entirely (although the Sugar Bowl has all but stated that they will pick Notre Dame if they are available and qualified). In that unlikely event, the Irish would fall o the Cotton Bowl, probably to face Texas.
A Florida-Notre Dame matchup in the Sugar Bowl is very attractive to the selection committee for two reasons. First, it pits Urban Meyer, who spurned advances from Notre Dame in the wake of the Willingham firing to take the job at Florida, against Weis, who eventually accepted the Notre Dame job. It will give the two coaches a chance to prove who has taken their team further in their first two years at the helm.
Also, a Notre Dame Florida matchup will be on the 15th anniversary of the famous "Cheerios" bowl, when the 18th ranked Irish beat the 3rd ranked Gators after several weeks of hearing that Notre Dame didn't belong in a bowl game of that stature.
1 comment:
Just a side note to everything. This goes out to all of you ND haters. In the last 14 months(going back to last January for those not capable of doing math.) Notre Dame and its 3 losses since, has only lost to #1 Ohio State, #2 USC, and #3/4 Michigan. No other team has played all of those teams in that same time span. So any body that says ND doesn't play anybody can go fly a kite.
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