Notre Dame a strong bet to reach BCS game even at 10-2

With the Notre Dame Fighting Irish staring down a crucial stretch of its schedule, fans and columnists are starting to talk BCS bowl for Notre Dame.

Sure, the Irish are just at 5-0, but they enjoy a huge fan following in addition to their strong schedule. This gives Notre Dame an upper hand in the selection process, according to J.J. Stankevitz of CSNChicago.com, even if it can only manage to finish 10-2.

Head coach Brian Kelly isn't interested in that sort of talk, however. "We don't talk about that level from 30,000 feet because it doesn't do us any good," Kelly said at a press conference Tuesday. "All we can focus on is what we can control on a day‑to‑day basis."

That's for good reason, too. The Irish are preparing to host the No. 17 Stanford Cardinal this week. After that, they welcome BYU to South Bend, which sports the No. 2 defense in the country according to advanced S&P+ ratings. The three-game gauntlet concludes when Notre Dame travels to play No. 13 Oklahoma at Norman, Okla., where the Sooners have only lost four times in the 14-year tenure of coach Bob Stoops.