Notre Dame books BCS ticket, other programs fire coaches

Notre Dame wins, will play in BCS Title game

- After years of mediocre coaching and blowouts at the hands of "rivals" like Michigan State and USC, Notre Dame is back atop the College Football landscape and will play for the BCS Title this January in Miami.  The final test for the Fighting Irish came Saturday in Los Angeles against a USC team that started the season ranked #1 but underachieved all season long and lost star QB Matt Barkley to a shoulder injury last week.  USC kept it close, but failed to score on 6 consecutive plays inside Notre Dame's 10 yard line late in the 4th quarter as Notre Dame's stingy defense held strong, as they have all year and they won the game 22-13.
- Lou Holtz, Dan Devine and Ara Parseghian all won National Championships at Notre Dame in their third season as head coach.  This season is Brian Kelly's third as Notre Dame's head coach.
- The Irish will play the winner of the SEC Championship game which pits #2 Alabama against #3 Georgia.  Alabama has won two of the last three BCS Titles and will likely be a huge favorite in this game as well but Georgia has put together an impressive streak since losing to South Carolina early in the season and veteran QB Aaron Murray is the only QB in SEC history to throw for 3000 yards in 3 seasons.


Black Sunday in College Football

- The day after the end of the regular season in most sports sees the firings of many coaches who haven’t performed up to snuff. This year’s coaches who were fired were particularly interesting.
NC State fired Tom O’Brien after 6 years. In those 6 years O’Brien was a fairly respectable 40-35, but was 22-26 in conference play (ACC). This year, the Wolfpack had one of the biggest upsets of the year defeating Florida State, but then lost back-to-back games to archrival UNC and then an inexcusable loss to lowly Virginia, that largely sealed O’Brien’s fate.
- The biggest firing of Sunday was that of Gene Chizik of Auburn, less than two years after winning a National Championship. Chizik coached four years, including the 2010 National Championship team with Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton. However, a 3-9 record including an 0-8 record in the SEC this year was Chizik’s downfall. Losing to #2 Alabama 49-0 (and it could have been a lot worse) this weekend was the final nail in the coffin.
- Tennessee coach Derek Dooley, who also went 0-8 in the SEC at a prestigious program didn't even make it to Sunday and was fired last week.