Notre Dame will beat any BCS challenger
Occasionally I get some things right, and last Friday I said Notre Dame would beat USC by a score of 27-13. The final was 22-13, so I was close.
The more important point, however, is that Notre Dame finished the regular season unbeaten and ranked No. 1 — something many college football experts didn’t see coming when the season began.
If you recall, the AP preseason poll had Notre Dame just outside of the Top 25, and the national voters had Southern California at No. 1. The preseason football poll by USA Today had USC at No. 3 and Notre Dame at No. 24.
After Notre Dame beat Oklahoma, some people started to believe, but most of the media still had doubts. How many times did you hear last week that Notre Dame would lose to Southern Cal?
A few weeks before, lots of college football experts had Notre Dame being shut out of the championship game, and it was going to be Kansas State versus Oregon. Well, the only BCS eligible team standing without a loss is Notre Dame.
On top of that, it makes me ill that Alabama is No. 2.
Huh? Alabama had a loss at the end of the year to Texas A&M freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel. He beat them at Alabama, and A&M is a two-loss team.
Alabama’s record is 11-1 but the A&M loss should drop them lower — it doesn’t deserve to be ranked No. 2.
Over the next 40 days, I’ll be hearing Notre Dame doesn’t have a chance. Oddsmakers in Las Vegas are saying right now that if Alabama plays Notre Dame, the Crimson Tide will be 7-point favorites over Brian Kelly’s guys.
Since I don’t know yet which team the Irish will play, I will give you the scores of the games if they play any of these teams:
ND26, Alabama 17.
ND 19, Georgia 14
ND 33, Oregon 27.
ND 21, Florida 13.
Are you getting the picture? Notre Dame is not losing. So enjoy the games this weekend, discovering out which team will be ND’s next victim!
NFL lacks parity:Good to see the Chicago Bears reboot and beat a good team in Minnesota. With Green Bay#146;s loss, the Bears#146; have a one-game lead in the NFC North, a division that is a novelty because it is the only true race left in the National Football League.There isn#146;t any parity, and the other races have been over for a couple of weeks.The New York Giants have a two-game lead in the NFC East. The Atlanta Falcons had a four-game cushion in the NFC South, and the San Francisco 49ers are up three games in the West. In the AFC, the story is the same. The New England Patriots are up three in the East, the Houston Texans are up three in the South, the Baltimore Ravens are up three games in the North, and the Denver Broncos are up four in the West. Parity is gone, and the NFL basically has six teams that are Super Bowl worthy, and 26 with no shot. That#146;s not parity, that#146;s just bad.Program notes:You can catch me with John and Amy on WIND 560-AM at 7:45 a.m. on Tuesdays, and with Steve Cochran at 5:50 p.m. on Fridays.Ÿ Mike North#146;s column appears each Tuesday and Friday in the Daily Herald, and his video commentary can be found Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at dailyherald.com. For more, visit northtonorth.com.