10-22-2012, 11:07 AM
Notre Dame is 90% likely to go to a BCS bowl. They will likely lose to Oklahoma and U.SC. The only other possible loss would be to Wake Forest, which would constitute a pretty big upset, but perhaps ND comes out flat as they look ahead to U.SC, so who knows. Even then, at 9-3, they likely qualify for a BCS bowl (by remaining in the top 14), unless their losses are crushing defeats and voters slam them, and I have a hard time believing their defense will give up a lot of points. Sadly, the best chance to keep ND out of the BCS discussion was for us to beat them.
As for Stanford, it's going to take us running the table, at least for the regular season, for us to have a shot. Losing to Oregon would mean Oregon and U.SC are the top teams in the league (forgive me for not buying into OSU yet.) If we go 10-2 and then lost to U.SC in the conference championship game, I could see us getting a spot, depending on how many chairs are available at the table. Oregon would likely be 1-loss, but their schedule is pillow-top soft, so I could see voters putting us ahead of them, especially if we beat them in Autzen. It's a long shot, but a possibility.
The season is that much more interesting when your bowl options are (virtually) boundless, so I will continue to hold out hope.
As for Stanford, it's going to take us running the table, at least for the regular season, for us to have a shot. Losing to Oregon would mean Oregon and U.SC are the top teams in the league (forgive me for not buying into OSU yet.) If we go 10-2 and then lost to U.SC in the conference championship game, I could see us getting a spot, depending on how many chairs are available at the table. Oregon would likely be 1-loss, but their schedule is pillow-top soft, so I could see voters putting us ahead of them, especially if we beat them in Autzen. It's a long shot, but a possibility.
The season is that much more interesting when your bowl options are (virtually) boundless, so I will continue to hold out hope.