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Notre Dame Falls To 4th In BCS

Notre Dame’s triple-overtime 29-26 victory over now 4-5 Pitt improved it to 9-0, but the win still dropped head coach Brian Kelly’s Fighting Irish from No. 3 to No. 4 in the BCS poll.

Theo Riddick

Can Theo Riddick and the Irish keep their hopes alive to reach No. 1?

Oregon moved up from No. 4 to No. 3 after a 62-51 victory against USC in the Los Angeles Coliseum. Kansas State remained No. 2 with a 44-30 conquest of Oklahoma State, while defending national champ Alabama is ensconced in the pole position after an 11th-hour touchdown drive enabled them to squeak by now No. 7 LSU, 21-17, in Baton Rouge.

The SEC foursome of Georgia, Florida, LSU and South Carolina follow the four unbeaten teams. The former two have one loss apiece, and the latter two have two defeats each. Big East leader Louisville is ninth despite its unbeaten record, but strength of schedule keeps them on the outside looking in as far as national title aspirations.

Speaking of being on the outside looking in, Notre Dame won’t win many style points to elevate their status the next two weeks with 2-7 Boston College next on the Irish docket, followed by 5-4 Wake Forest.

• Alabama doesn’t leave its state the next three weeks, although it could have an interesting “letdown test” this weekend against No. 15 Texas A&M. Western Carolina (Nov. 17) and reeling Auburn (Nov. 24) cap the campaign prior to the Dec. 1 SEC title game.

• Kansas State is on the road against TCU (Nov. 10) and Baylor (Nov. 17), and then has two weeks to prepare for No. 17 Texas, which it hosts Dec. 1.

• Oregon is at Cal this week, and then finishes with No. 14 Stanford and No. 11 Oregon State before playing in the Pac 12 title game on Dec. 1.

Notre Dame does not control its own destiny right now and will need at least two major upsets among the trio in front of it — plus win out on its own — to get a berth into the title game. Here’s the BCS Top 10:

1. Alabama .996
2. Kansas State .932
3. Oregon .917
4. Notre Dame .905
5. Georgia .817
6. Florida .786
7. LSU .705
8. So. Carolina .621
9. Louisville .604
10. Florida St. .597

Kelly said after this weekend’s victory versus Pitt that he refuses to engage in scoreboard watching.

“I don't really care about that,” he said of the BCS ratings. “Everybody says I should care. I care about my football team. I care about getting better. We're really just focused on ourselves. We can't worry about all those other things. We really can't.

“I could be politically correct and say, ‘Yeah, I care, we're going to watch it.’ But to be honest with you, we've got a lot of work to do with our football team.”

Lou Somogyi

    • I feel like after Saturday anything can happen what do you say, Devine Intervention.
      BK may not watch ,but I feel like more than a few of us fans will be. There is still a lot of bumps in the road for all four top teams . Maybe ND will get some of that help for above.

      TX Irish

    • We are going to reap that Pitt result.

      Shamrock1

    • Nonsense, we aren't reaping anything. Win 12 games and see where we're at. Alabama won't lose unless it's in the SEC Championship game; Stanford or Oregon State could defeat Oregon; Kansas State will find a way to lose. USC stands in our way. Can't buy Oregon being a championship team when it gives up 51 points.

      Blueman

    • Blueman said...

      Nonsense, we aren't reaping anything. Win 12 games and see where we're at. Alabama won't lose unless it's in the SEC Championship game; Stanford or Oregon State could defeat Oregon; Kansas State will find a way to lose. USC stands in our way. Can't buy Oregon being a championship team when it gives up 51 points.

      Love your confidence. I see the remainder running the table.

      Shamrock1

    • Nothing is settled yet. Unfortunately, a whole lot of football writers and coaches have little to no idea what they're voting for. That doesn't mean they don't know football, but that they don't watch the games. They see a final score, a couple of highlights, and that's it. They don't consider that after Stanford, BYU and Oklahoma it made sense for the Irish to be a bit askew; flat, if you will. Nor do they have the depth to drill into what the kind of effort and win we earned in the fourth quarter and three overtimes says about a team. They love winning pretty.

      There's still plenty of time for Oregon, Alabama and K-State to lose. I don't know who can beat K-State, because other than Oklahoma, they don't have a single good team on their schedule. Oregon still has Stanford and Oregon State, and then a likely donference championship game. So, it's possible that they could still lose. 'Bama has A & M this week (should be fun seeing what Manziel can do against them), and a championship game to navigate.

      Honestly, I don't like our chances of getting to the championship game, but I'll be rooting each week for us to win and the others to lose. If we don't get to the title game at 12-0, we'll still be 12-0. The team will still have done all it could do, and far more than even the most optimistic fan "legitimately" thought possible. I knew we could win every game on the schedule, but I figured we'd lose a couple because of the inexperience at QB and in the defensive backfield. You hate to lose a chance at a championship game, because even if we're a substantially better team next year, there's no guarantee we'll be 9-0 at this point. Still, all we can do is hope, root and pray and love the team in 20 years that's carried us into November.

      Mr Rice128364

    • If Alabama were to get two losses they may drop to #2

      NDKev

    • Maybe it's a wake up call to the players? Winning is important, but you have to LOOK dominant. Congrats on a gutsy comeback, but don't play so mediocre the first three quarters that those heroics are necessary.

      You'be raised the bar for yourselves. Don't stop.

      illestdomer2005

    • TX Irish said...

      I feel like after Saturday anything can happen what do you say, Devine Intervention. BK may not watch ,but I feel like more than a few of us fans will be. There is still a lot of bumps in the road for all four top teams . Maybe ND will get some of that help for above.

      'Devine intervention' has delivered the 1st installment - consider that after CW's fumble in the endzone Pitt's kicker Harper misses a 33 yd field goal that would have ended ND's undefeated season and possible BCS NC. That miss is what is called "The Luck of the Irish" LOL!! GO IRISH!!

      irish13

    • There is a LOT of football left to play! Let's concentrate on our task at hand! As a wise man once said " Keep your mind on your business and your business on the game!"
      Onward to Victory...

      Zackie

    • If we can get to a unanimous 3 in the people polls we may have a shot... That said we still got fredo, wake, and the condoms ... Lots of football

      ndfaninmd ●

    • What the Irish experienced Saturday, still lies in wait for Oregon and K-State, and neither might have what it takes to weather that kind of storm. Gamblers will tell you that luck travels in a cluster, good and bad. We saw the bad, last year. Time to expect some good.

      HamOnWry22 ●

    • with 4 quarters of mediocre performance against an unrated pitt, coupled with a average 2 overtimes from the 25 yardline of pitt, to score 1 fg, and just barely i td. does not constitute a "we are back"or "return to glory" chest beating. get real, we are still a work in progress11 go irish beat hapless bc, and wake. usc, here come the irish!! the lad

      KINSALELAD

    • HamOnWry22 said...

      What the Irish experienced Saturday, still lies in wait for Oregon and K-State, and neither might have what it takes to weather that kind of storm. Gamblers will tell you that luck travels in a cluster, good and bad. We saw the bad, last year. Time to expect some good.

      that's the spirit ham! i agree ore and kstate are just waiting to step on a snake. and who's to say bama could not be flat against a&m? we have the balls to keep fighting and waiting for "help" never is a good thing. the O has to improve these next two "wins", and bk needs to remember that throwing the pig 40+ a game is usually a bad outcome......

      Coach_Clancy

    • Lou Somogyi said...

      http://notredame.247sports.com/Article/Notre-Dame-Falls-To-4th-In-BCS-Rankings-99568

      The Irish won on the field on Saturday but still dropped one spot in the Bowl Championship Series Poll.

      Not a surprise as the Coaches and Harris poll are showing no love to ND and Oregon's SOS improved from last week with the game against USC.

      There used to be a saying that the only polls that mattered where the ones at the end of the year. Now, there are two - polls just prior to Final BCS pick and the ones at the end of the year.

      ND just needs to keep taking care of business.

      DeVoeDFD

    • We need to win out and get some help, thats how it is going to need to play out and we knew that. Lots of football left to play.

      edd1066

    • Agree with Blueman. Take away from the Alabama-LSU game, Alabama is beatable in the SEC title game. Oregon's D has issues and remember what happens when they play a quality defense. They have true tests to come. KSU seems to be on a similar path of destiny as ND. I am optimistic about the outcome once the dust settles. ND will do it's part.

      This post was edited by nwirish61 on 11/5/2012 at 12:37 PM

      nwirish61

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