Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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in the trenches andrew owens A BCS: Dream Or Reality? fter the weekly BCS standings were released the day after Notre Dame's win over Navy, Irish fans clamored over the team's spot in the polls (25th in the coaches, 24th in the Associated Press and 23rd in the BCS). With two losses, Notre Dame's only chance was to win out and hope to make it into the top 14 of the BCS listing, the minimum requirement for an elite bowl assignment to be bestowed upon the Irish. With Notre Dame's low ranking in early November, fans expressed concern that the Irish would be left in the cold with a 10-2 record this year because of their ranking. As history has shown, a top-14 finish would almost certainly clinch a spot in the BCS for Notre Dame because of the program's attractiveness to bowl representatives through television and ticket revenue. So, essentially, the question was whether Notre Dame could rise nine spots (assuming it did not trip up the remainder of the season). In the last 15 years, 45 teams have reached the BCS without qualifying automatically through a conference championship. Some, like Boise State and TCU, have earned spots as a non-automatic qualifier, while others have finished in the top four, which clinches an automatic at-large berth. Although history is not on the side of Notre Dame pulling off the feat this year, the Irish are a unique example After two early losses, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly's squad has faced an uphill battle to qualify for the Bowl Championship Series. photo by bill panzica compared to other teams. Below is a list of every program that qualified for the BCS in its history after ranking lower than 12th in week 11, the point at which Notre Dame found itself ranked 23rd this season. One note on the list: From 1998-2005, four bowl games were affiliated with the BCS. From 2006-12, the BCS National Championship Game was added, thus providing two additional atlarge berths each year. It would still be surprising to see Notre Dame finish outside of the top 14 if it wins its final three games. Stanford now looks like an even tougher opponent after its manhandling of Oregon (the Cardinal led 26-0 in the fourth quarter before holding off a late Ducks rally), but that win also improved Stanford's stature and would make an Irish victory in the