Notre Dame Football: Loss to USC Would End Hope for BCS Ranking This Season

The season started off with many obstacles for Notre Dame to overcome in the opening weeks.

They were an unpolished, scrappy team making a bunch of mistakes that cost them wins.

In Week 1, the Irish fell to South Florida, 23-20.

In Week 2, they continued the poor start with a 35-31 loss against Michigan.

That's when they turned it on.

Notre Dame is 4-0 since the poor start, one win coming against a ranked Michigan State team.

There are many who believe Notre Dame deserves a ranking in the BCS Top 25 where they stand right now.

If they can win tonight's game against USC, it's hard to debate the fact that they will be awarded a spot in the rankings next week.

However, if they lose, it could be the end of all hopes of making it into the rankings at all this year.

A loss would put the Irish at 4-3.

Even if the team is able to rebound in the coming weeks, they may get shafted from the rankings.

Notre Dame has an easy schedule over the next few weeks so a 8-3 record heading into the final week is very possible.

Even at 8-3, it will be hard to crack the rankings due to the weak strength of schedule.

Then, in the final week of the season, the Irish have to take on Andrew Luck and the Stanford Cardinal. They will be huge underdogs in that game.

If they could pull off a miracle upset, then maybe they could squeak into the rankings but it's unlikely that will happen.

The entire season could be riding on the game tonight. It's win or go home for Notre Dame.