Notre Dame Football: Why the Irish Should Be Ranked in the 2011 BCS Standings

The initial 2011 Bowl Championship Series rankings are out, and Notre Dame finds itself on the outside looking in.

Barely.

Both the Coaches Poll and the Harris Poll have the Irish just outside the rankings, holding what would be the 26th spot, only a few votes shy of supplanting No. 25 Washington.

Truly, the Fighting Irish have only themselves to blame, blowing their first two games against South Florida and Michigan.

Notre Dame has, however, won four consecutive football games, three against BCS conference competition, and one against No. 15 Michigan State.

In measurable stats the Irish rank 29th in passing, 31st in rushing, 36th in scoring and 30th in points against.

Those numbers don't look all that impressive until you take a glance at a few teams ranked ahead of the Irish.

No. 24 Texas, 4-2 on the season, has lost two in a row—the first a 55-17 beating at the hands of No. 3 Oklahoma. By ranking the Longhorns sit at 83rd in passing, 40th in rushing, 54th in scoring, and 55th in points allowed.

No. 20 Auburn is the defending national champion, though, and stands at 4-2 on the year. Both of them Tigers' losses are to Top 10 opponents in Clemson and Arkansas; they nearly lost to 2-4 Utah State, and like Notre Dame hold a quality win over No. 14 South Carolina.

Auburn ranks an abysmal 106th in passing, 27th in rushing, 77th in scoring and 60th in points allowed.

No. 17 Texas A&M may be the most talked about football team in years touching off the most recent round of conference Armageddon, and they are the most deservedly ranked of the two loss teams.

A&M dropped back to back games to Oklahoma State and Arkansas that appeared to be sealed up. Wins came against SMU, Idaho, Texas Tech, and Baylor.

The biggest knock against the Aggies is that they have been a porous defense. Ranking 66th in points allowed, the Aggies in their last four games have surrendered 30, 42, 40, and 28 points.

There are some one loss teams that are questionable when ranked ahead of Notre Dame.

No. 25 Washington has played one ranked opponent, falling 51-38 to No. 13 Nebraska. The rest of their schedule has been a pair of patsies in FCS Eastern Washington and Hawaii (each of which the Huskies narrowly defeated) and the bottom half of the Pac 12 in Cal, Utah, and Colorado who combine for a 0-9 conference record.

No. 21 Penn State has only lost to No. 2 Alabama, but has been largely underwhelming against everyone else on their schedule. The Nittany Lions have struggled with the forward pass, ranking 80th nationally. They are also 52nd rushing, and 96th in scoring.

Further damning for the Lions is that their most recent opponent was Purdue, whom was narrowly defeated 23-18. Notre Dame decimated the same opponent two weeks earlier 38-10 in a game not as close as the score indicates.

There is also No. 16 Michigan State. The 5-1 Spartans have beaten Ohio State and Michigan in back to back weeks, but have otherwise only tallied wins over FCS Youngstown State, Florida Atlantic, and Central Michigan.

There is also the matter of the one loss, a 31-13 hammering at Notre Dame who limited Sparty to just 26 yards rushing.

It also must be mentioned that Notre Dame had the misfortune of having a bye week fall the week the BCS rankings came out.

Without playing a game there was no way to stay fresh in human voter's minds. The Irish fell just outside the rankings, so it stands to reason that had they beaten Air Force 59-33 this week rather than last they would have attained the few more votes necessary to climb into the top 25.

Luckily for Notre Dame there is much room for upward movement very soon.

A win over arch nemesis USC next weekend in South Bend will probably alone move the Irish into the BCS rankings.

In addition to that possibility is the reality that several teams ranked in the 15-25 range will lose.

No. 16 Michigan State plays No. 13 Nebraska.

No. 25 Washington plays No. 8 Stanford.

No. 20 Auburn plays No. 1 LSU.

For Notre Dame it is more important to remember where you have been, and focus on where you want to end rather than dwell on where you are presently.

The opening losses to South Florida and Michigan were both self inflicted. 10 turnovers in two games are all that separates the Irish from a perfect 6-0 record and a top-seven BCS ranking.

Focus on preventing a repeat of history and make sure that if you lose another game this year it is because the other team beat you.

Remember that what really matters is how you finish. Should the Irish win out, they will certainly qualify for a BCS bowl game.

Notre Dame will be favored and should win every game on their schedule until visiting Stanford in the season finale.

Should the Irish play the way they have in wins over Michigan State, Purdue, and Air Force they will find themselves exactly where they want to be.