Last Saturday, I cheered for Notre Dame in its showdown with the University of Southern California. Not that I’m so fond of the Irish, although I do admit to liking them the way I like the New York Yankees, in that baseball and college football always seem more interesting when there are good teams to either hate or admire in these franchises. And not that I like USC so well, either: an early infatuation with its Trojan mascot, mounted on a white horse, evaporated almost as rapidly as a later infatuation with the USC cheerleaders. And not because I had money down on the game, although I do admit to taking the Irish and three points in the office football pool, mainly because a game between unbeaten, untied teams this late in the season should at least be close. And certainly not because I foresaw a national championship for Notre Dame (the winner of the annual Irish-Trojan showdown has gone on to win the college football title 22 times since they began meeting in the 20s, the ABC television commentary informed us, and this was the first time the two teams had met with both unbeaten and untied, ranked one and two). No, the reason I cheered for the Irish is that I foresee a West Virginia national championship, and the clearest route to that end was through a Notre Dame victory.
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It has been a season where almost every highly considered team has beaten some other highly considered team, but only once, before losing to some other highly considered team. If a case can be made for Miami being, despite its one loss, the best college football team in the nation (and anyone who saw the Irish-Hurricane game in South Bend, and the home cooking Notre Dame received from the referees, can make that case), then an equally strong case can be made for Florida State, the preseason favorite, which lost its opening game to Miami and has not been challenged since. It’s been a confusing season.
Now, Notre Dame faces West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl January 2. The big-time fans who fear parity reaching down from the NFL to the colleges probably see this as a bad sign. It will be the second time in three years that two independent teams will have met for the national championship, demonstrating the weakened position of the nation’s conferences and the bowls that lock those conference champions in for bids. (The Rose Bowl especially may have to readjust its format, since the Big Ten has become such a poor partner with the Pacific Ten.) The Mountaineers, clearly, should be named national champs if they win, but even if they do there will be hollering that Miami should be ranked on top (if it beats Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, which it should), because, really, they did beat Notre Dame, and besides they played a tougher schedule.
