Notre Dame Football: Fighting Irish Have Clear Path to BCS After Defeating MSU

It would have been easy to look at Notre Dame's 0-2 start to the season and hit the panic button. But now that the Irish have defeated Michigan State, they have a clear path to get into the BCS.

Quarterback Tommy Rees has proven that he is the man to lead this offense, and the defense has played well all season long considering all the turnovers from Dayne Crist and the special teams in the first two games.

I know that it is impossible to take back losses, but if you look at the two games that the Irish lost, they had chances to win those games at the end. And if the defense had not collapsed against Michigan in Week 2, the Irish would have a 2-1 record right now.

But as things stand, the Irish are 1-2 with a schedule that bodes well for them the rest of the way. They have two easy games against Pittsburgh and Purdue in the next two weeks. When they win those games, their record will be 3-2 heading into a showdown with Air Force.

The Falcons have a good team with one of the best rushing attacks in the nation, but they have not been impressive in their two games this season. Notre Dame should win that game, especially since it is in South Bend, and push their record to 4-2.

October 22 against USC will be the next "danger" game that Notre Dame plays. The Trojans have a good team, and this will be their bowl game since they are still banned from postseason play, so they will want to have a good showing.

If the Irish can get a victory in that game, they should be able to run the table until November 26 at Stanford.

Regardless of what you might think about the Cardinal team as a whole, they still have Andrew Luck, the best quarterback in the country, so they will be competitive in every game that they play this season.

Even if Notre Dame were to lose against Stanford, their record would still be 9-3, and they would be eligible for a BCS berth.

Given the television ratings that they will draw, and the tickets they will sell, the Irish will be a lock to earn one of the BCS at-large spots.

All that panic at the beginning of the season will be for naught as the Irish are well on their way to returning to the BCS for the first time since 2007.