Notre Dame

The chances of The Fighting Irish playing for a national championship have improved dramatically after Alabama went down to Texas A&M at home.

The Alabama shocker means that the Irish may play for the national championship for the first time since the Lou Holtz era in 1988.

Coupled with Notre Dame’s facile victory over Boston College the Irish are now definitely at Number 3 at least and possibly in the top two.

It is an extraordinary outcome for a team that was given little chance of cracking the Top 10 before the season started.

But there are still two obstacles to overcome. Wake Forest at home should be a relatively easy victory but USC in the Los Angeles Coliseum will be a real test.

The Irish/USC rivalry is among the most famous in college football and nothing would suit the Trojans more than to upend Notre Dame’s perfect season.

If the Irish manage to overcome that however, they will be in the final shakeup for a national title game—something absolutely no one predicted at the beginning of the season.

Against Boston College, Notre Dame appeared to play on automatic in the second half after a 21-3 half time lead. This team is plainly able to lift their game sufficiently depending on their rival. The BC game in previous years has often been a heartbreaker for the Irish but like everything hers this year they have learnt to do enough for victory.

Manti T’eo‘s interception will have done him no harm in the Heisman chase and he is surely moving up in the ranking.