You know the story by now. Undefeated Notre Dame survived the 2012 regular season and is No. 1 in both the Associated Press and USA Today coaches’ polls. But it’s the BCS rankings that matter, and the Irish hold down the No. 1 spot in the latest BCS rankings. There’s still one more week in this college football season, but Notre Dame is unofficially in the BCS championship game at this point.
Who Notre Dame will play in the BCS championship is a simple problem to figure out as well.
Alabama and Georgia, as expected, come in at No. 2 and No. 3, meaning the SEC championship game will essentially serve as a national semifinal. Florida is No. 4 after a win over rival Florida State. Provided there’s no arbitrary shakeup, the Gators will move up to No. 3 in the BCS after next week and will head to a BCS bowl. That should also be the case for No. 5 Oregon. The Ducks are a likely at-large selection for the Fiesta Bowl.
Kansas State, LSU, Stanford, Texas A&M and South Carolina round out the BCS top 10.
As for another -- and possibly final -- BCS at-large spot, pay close attention to Kent State at No. 17. The Golden Flashes need to move up just one spot to No. 16 to receive an automatic berth in a BCS bowl since no champion from the Big East, one of the six automatic qualifier conferences, will be ranked ahead of KSU at the end of the season. There is, however, a sizable gap between KSU and UCLA in the BCS averages, so a top 16 ranking isn’t guaranteed even if UCLA loses the Pac-12 championship game.
Kent State will play No. 21 Northern Illinois in the MAC championship this weekend.
