BCS report

Monday, November 26, 2012

— Kelly has Irish atop in Year 3

LOS ANGELES - The post game roars from Notre Dame’s locker room echoed right through the Coliseum’s thick cement walls and metal beams Saturday night, moving around the 89-yearold arena like a long-absent force of nature.

It was the sound of the No. 1-ranked Fighting Irish’s return to the top of college football, and they have a chance to end a 24-year championship drought.

“This is where you want to be when you go to Notre Dame,” linebacker Manti Te’o said after Notre Dame (12-0) completed its first unbeaten regular season since 1988.

After winning half of their games by nine points or fewer, including two hair raising escapes in overtime victories, it’s clear these Irish have something else going for them as well.

And the Irish have six weeks to prepare for the BCS title game on Jan. 7, but Coach Brian Kelly’s restoration of the Notre Dame mystique could linger much longer.

Just three years after taking over a 6-6 team with ancient expectations annually dwarfed by the modern realities of competing at a Catholic school in frigid northern Indiana with tough academic standards, Kelly has put the Irish back on top.

“It’s easy to say, ‘Well, yeah, I’m surprised,”’ Kelly said. “But when you go in that locker room and are around the guys I’m around, you’re not surprised. The commitment they’ve made - they’ve done everything I’ve asked them to do. It doesn’t surprise me anymore.”

Athletic director Jack Swarbrick, who replaced Charlie Weis with Kelly three years ago next month, acknowledges he expected the Irish to need maybe one more year to contend at an elite level.

Although Notre Dame’s defense was clearly tough, nobody could have expected such success from an offense now led by the likes of quarterback Everett Golson, who redshirted last year, and tailback Theo Riddick, who was a slot receiver last season.

ALABAMA

Tide, ‘Dogs coy

Alabama Coach Nick Saban finds plenty to like about competing in a league where the champion has a near-automatic reservation to the BCS national title game.

That’s the case again for Saturday’s Southeastern Conference championship game between the No. 2 Crimson Tide and No.

3 Georgia. The winner advances to meet No. 1 Notre Dame with a chance to keep the national championship in the SEC for a seventh straight year.

And the loser? Well, that team might be shut out of the BCS picture because No. 5 Florida is in line to grab that spot. Saban is less thrilled about that prospect - another side effect of playing in the SEC.

“For either one of these teams, it’s not really a great scenario,” Saban said Sunday. “You play your way into the championship game, which means you’re the best team in your division.

They’re the best team in their division. They played their way into the game by a total body of work for the whole season. It doesn’t seem quite right, but it is what it is.”

The Bulldogs (11-1, 7-1) rebounded from a 35-7 loss at South Carolina on Oct.

6 to win the East for the second straight season.

Georgia Coach Mark Richt said he doesn’t want his team getting caught up in the stakes and magnitude of the game.

FLORIDA

Gators ‘not soft’

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A year after calling his team soft following an embarrassing home loss to Florida State, Florida coach Will Muschamp watched many of those same players rip the Seminoles in 37-26 victory on Saturday.

They clinched one of the best regular seasons in school history with a victory more convincing than the final 11-point victory margin.

“Our guys just continued to press forward,” Muschamp said.

“We don’t do excuses. We did enough of that last year.”

The No. 4 Gators (11-1) impressed Florida State defensive end Bjoern Werner, who was one of the few Seminoles to give Florida trouble.

“The way they were double-teaming - I’ve never seen it before,” said Werner, who had 3 1/2 sacks in the game. “Give credit to them.”

Florida now awaits its bowl invitation. The Gators know that only a 17-9 loss to Georgia on Oct. 27 prevents them from playing Alabama in this Saturday’s SEC title game, where the winner will likely be Notre Dame’s opponent in the BCS national championship game Jan. 7.

Muschamp and the Gators could be headed to New Orleans for a Sugar Bowl date.

And whereas it had been Florida State with much of the preseason attention after victories over Florida and Notre Dame to finish the 2011 season, Florida stealthily climbed the polls with road victories at Texas A&M, Tennessee and Vanderbilt along with home victories over LSU and South Carolina.

Tom Murphy’s ballot

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette writer Tom Murphy is a voter in The Associated Press Top 25. Here are his weekly selections in the latest poll.

  1. Notre Dame

  2. Alabama

  3. Georgia

  4. Florida

  5. Oregon

  6. Ohio State

  7. Kansas State

  8. Texas A&M

  9. South Carolina

  10. LSU

  11. Stanford

  12. Clemson

  13. Oklahoma

  14. Nebraska

  15. Florida State

  16. N. Illinois

  17. Utah State

  18. Oregon State

  19. Northwestern

  20. TCU

  21. San Jose St.

  22. Kent State

  23. Boise State

  24. Arkansas St.

  25. Vanderbilt

DROPPED OUT

UCLA, Texas, Louisville, Oklahoma State, Rutgers, Michigan

Sports, Pages 19 on 11/26/2012