Rating The Irish

So now that the BCS controversy has settled -- at least if you don't live in Michigan, support Michigan football or base your happiness on Michigan football opportunity -- we can analyze what Notre Dame means to fellow coaches. We can do this because of the coaches' poll. The final votes were made public, so we can see who voted who where.

Okay, that might not be gramatically smooth, but the point is, we can tell what everyone thinks of the Irish, as well as the Florida-Michigan debate.

Notre Dame was picked as high as seventh (thank Phillip Fulmer of Tennessee) and as low as 16th (what was South Carolina's Steve Spurrier thinking?). Indiana's Terry Hoeppner had the Irish 10th.

Tyrone Willingham, who is now at Washington, picked Notre Dame 13th.

What did Charlie Weis do? Well, he had Notre Dame eighth, which, coincidentally or not, is the last BCS spot to receive an automatic BCS bowl bid.

All of this is moot now that the final BCS rankings are out and the Irish are safely in the Sugar Bowl. Okay, "safe" might not be the right word considering Notre Dame's eight-bowl losing streak and the strength of its opponent, LSU, but you get the idea. What better way to end this streak than in a BCS bowl against a high-profile opponent.

Let's face it. Next year could be a bit of a struggle considering how many high-quality seniors the Irish will lose. Winning this game would be a big momentum boost, sort of like a final gift from these seniors to the program. Because nobody -- nobody -- who is involved with the program wants to deal with any more talk about a bowl losing streak.