Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Irish Deserve Late-Season Nudge To No. 1 FIGHTING WORDS WES MORGAN Seniors Kapron Lewis-Moore and Manti Te'o had plenty to celebrate during the 38-0 demolition of Wake Forest in their final home game, but the day got even better when Kansas State and Oregon both went down. P or No. 2 Oregon to lose one of their two remaining games, the third- ranked Irish and the rest of the coun- try watched the Wildcats get skinned by Baylor and the Ducks gutted in overtime by Stanford in primetime. It marked the first time since Dec. 1, 2007, when No. 1 Missouri lost to ninth-ranked Oklahoma and No. 2 West Virginia fell to unranked Pitts- ished the regular season undefeated, might not get a crack at the crystal football. It would have required a crys- tal ball to predict what would unfold in the frenzied hours that followed. Needing either No. 1 Kansas State rior to Notre Dame's 38-0 victory over Wake Forest, it looked as if the Fighting Irish, even if they fin- PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA the top spot in the Associated Press poll for the first time since 1993 and the No. 1 slot in the BCS standings for the first time since it was introduced in 1998. The Irish are a road win over foun- burgh, that the top two programs were defeated on the same day. As a result, Notre Dame slipped into dering Southern California (7-4) from reaching the national championship game, and they're in such a position because of an intense focus on what matters most — what they could con- trol. "It's easier now because we have one game left," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said after the win but be- fore the conclusion of one wild night of