Notre Dame Is Bowl Eligible, but Did Oregon and Illinois End Its BCS Chances?

On Halloween, Notre Dame started a new tradition. They played a home game on a neutral field.

This year they traveled to the Alamo Dome in San Antonio to play Washington State and coach Charlie Weis wanted to target the state of Texas in regards to recruiting.

In many ways the trip was a success. Notre Dame completely dominated the Cougars pretty much from start to finish. The game featured one of the most unbelievable plays I have ever seen. It was a 50 yard touchdown pass from Jimmy Clausen to wide receiver Golden Tate.

Clausen put the ball accurately in between three defenders and Tate out fought all three of them for the ball. It came as time expired in the first half, and the best part was that it killed any momentum Washington State gained with their lone touchdown drive of the first half.

After six straight games of having the outcome decided on the last play, Notre Dame fans were able to breathe much easier in this one. Whenever the score is 40-14, fans know they will get a chance to see some of the younger players.

One such player who impressed me was running back Theo Riddick. His speed is scary. Once he becomes a more seasoned player he could be really good.

I have to mention quarterback Dayne Crist, who had his first touchdown pass on a deep ball to wide receiver John Goodman who also hauled in his first touchdown. Unfortunately for Crist it was a bittersweet moment, because he suffered a knee injury on the next series. There is no word yet on how serious the injury is. A MRI is scheduled for Monday.

Many potential recruits were watching the game in the stands and I understand that Weis even got a couple of commitments.

The win also made the Fighting Irish Bowl eligible. That is definitely a positive to have that wrapped up with four weeks left. Last year they didn't clinch it until late and ended up in the Hawaii Bowl. For me, it was fun to see them come to Hawaii.

Seeing the Irish playing in Aloha Stadium is something I never would have thought could happen when I moved there a decade ago. I said after the game that it was a blast, but as much as I loved seeing Notre Dame come to Hawaii I would be disappointed if they came back.

I want to see them in a much better bowl than the Hawaii Bowl. At 6-2, that seems very likely. However, getting a BCS bowl could be very tough due to a couple of unforeseen events on Saturday.

Oregon just destroyed USC, which was the worst thing that could have happened for Irish fans. Prior to the game I thought that if USC could blow out the Ducks, it would make Notre Dame's near win look impressive. It would also discredit Boise State to a degree and make it possible for Notre Dame to jump them at some point.

Unfortunately, just the opposite happened. Notre Dame's last second loss to USC now doesn't look as good. Boise now has a gripe to be not only in the BCS but also the Title Game.

To make matters worse, Michigan got blown out for the second straight week. This time it was to lowly Illinois. Michigan State and Purdue also looked bad in their games.

The only good news for the Irish was that Boston College got a blow out win over a very good Central Michigan team.

All of those results make it very difficult for Notre Dame to make a solid argument for a BCS bowl. In fact, Notre Dame climbed only one spot from #23 to #22 in the latest BCS poll, despite a blowout win.

I guess the best thing Notre Dame can do at this point is worry about what they can control. They can't control computers or what happens in other games. What they can control is how they prepare for Navy this week.

The Irish just need to worry about taking care of it's own business and the rest will sort itself out. Hopefully, it will be in the Irish's favor.

Looking at the last four games, Notre Dame ends with Navy, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, and Stanford. Those are four pretty tough games. I definitely think the Irish can jump up with victories over those four teams. However, can they jump high enough to get a BCS bid?

In closing, although the players and coaches need to worry about what they can control. Fans can hope that Nevada beats Boise later in the year and hope that somebody knocks off TCU.

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