The Notre Dame Fighting Irish received one first place vote in this week's coaching poll, courtesy of their own head coach Brian Kelly. Alas, the Irish came in at No. 3 in that poll, the same position where they are in both the BCS rankings and the AP Poll.

The Irish are likely to stay right in that spot unless the Kansas St. Wildcats or Oregon Ducks lose a game, which would open up a spot in the BCS title game for the Irish. Notre Dame ends the season with games against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and USC Trojans, Kansas State finishes with the Baylor Bears and Texas Longhorns and Oregon will face the Stanford Cardinal and Oregon St. Beavers, plus whichever team they face in the Pac-12 championship game (likely either USC or the UCLA Bruins).

During his teleconference on Sunday, Kelly said that he ranked his team No. 1 because of their top-ranked scoring defense.