Notre Dame reaction: BCS title on line at USC

Children born the last time Notre Dame football held a No. 1 ranking in any poll voted in this November's election. That means it's been 19 years since the Fighting Irish held such a prestigious place in the college football landscape probably has something to do with the joyful tone over at One Foot Down, SBNation's Notre Dame community.

As One Foot Down founding member "whiskey OFD" put it in his Tuesday column, that the Irish are sitting this pretty with one game to play isn't an all-time shock, but the BCS Championship didn't seem likely when this year began:

To be sitting at #1 today is a rather amazing turnaround, and in my completely biased opinion, a significant step forward that the entire program can continue to build on. For the first few weeks of the season it seemed possible but still unlikely. Then Oklahoma happened.

Notre Dame must beat a Matt Barkley-less USC Trojans squad to complete a 12-0 season and claim a spot in the BCS Championship. Of that game, whiskey says that Southern Cal is a "wounded animal" and that hopefully the team will be "focusing on the task at hand."

Notre Dame plays USC at 8 p.m. ET Saturday night on ABC.