Notre Dame Back in Top 10, Projected 6th in BCS

(UHND.com) – Notre Dame returned to the top 10 in both the Associated Press and USA Today Polls for the first time since the Michigan loss September 9th.  The Irish and Tennessee are flip flopped with each other at 8th and 9th in the two polls with Notre Dame 8th in the USA Today poll and 9th in the AP.

Notre Dame spent three weeks outside the top 10 after the loss to Michigan and with the lighter part of their schedule coming up, the Irish should continue to climb up the rankings prior to the Thanksgiving weekend showdown with USC.

The Irish and Vols along with Texas at 6th are the highest ranked one loss teams in the country.  Loses by Auburn at home to unranked Arkansas, Oregon on the road at Cal, LSU on the road at Florida and Georgia on the road to Tennessee allowed for the Irish to move back into the top 10.

More importantly than their top 10 ranking, the computers are once again loving Notre Dame for it’s strength of schedule and because of it, Notre Dame is projected to be in 6th place right now in the BCS rankings according to Rich Tellshow.

The only problem about the computer rankings is that Notre Dame’s strength of schedule will take a hit over the next several weeks with some of the weaker opponents on the Irish grid coming up.

For instance, unbeaten West Virginia is projected to be below the Irish because of their computer average rank of 15 thanks to their laughable early season schedule.  With some more respectable teams coming up for the Mountaineers they will probably jump the Irish in the BCS rankings even if both teams continue to win.

Still, the high BCS ranking is very encouraging for Notre Dame’s national title aspirations which seemed to die on September 9 with each Mario Mannigham touchdown.  If the Irish take care of business, including a win on November 25th in Los Angels, they will have a very real chance of playing in the national championship game.

And just for a very interesting hypothetical situation… should Michigan win out, including a win over Ohio State, it could set up a Notre Dame-Michigan rematch for the national title (assuming Notre Dame wins out of course).  This scenario is might not be as far fetched as it sounds, and a lot would need to happen between now and then, but it’s definitely something to think about.