Let’s recap Week 13, shall we?

Game of the week: No. 1 Notre Dame at USC

Final score: Irish 22, Trojans 13

Pregame rant: This is pretty simple. The Irish win, they’re playing for a national title.

Notre Dame hasn’t won it all since the 1988 season, but hasn’t really contended for one since 1989 when it lost to No. 1 Colorado in the 1990 Orange Bowl.

So for the Irish, this is a long time coming. For USC, this is a season it’d like to forget.

The Trojans have lost four games, their best player – quarterback Matt Barkley – is out with a shoulder injury and they’re coming off a 38-28 loss to in-town rival UCLA.

Beating the Irish would sure wipe the slate clean for USC.

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Let’s recap Week 9 shall we?

Game of the week: No. 5 Notre Dame at No. 8 Oklahoma

Final score: Irish 30, Sooners 13

Pregame rant: This is the Irish’s toughest test yet. Oklahoma’s lone loss was to No. 4 Kansas State, which has risen to the top of the Big 12.

It’s a classic match-up. Oklahoma is averaging 488.17 yards and 44.67 points a game. Notre Dame is allowing just 280.71 yards and 9.43 points a game.

Something has to give.

Post-game commentary: The Irish didn’t give.

Oklahoma rushed for just 15 yards on 24 rushing attempts in falling to Notre Dame at home. The Sooners may have given up on the run too early, but they couldn’t have expected the Irish’s offense to hit them so many big plays last week.

Before this game, I thought all the talk about Notre Dame senior linebacker Manti Te’o winning the Heisman Trophy was a bit much.

After seeing how he leads the best defense in the nation outside of Alabama’s, I’m rethinking my votes. He had 11 tackles, a sack and an interception last week. Great player.

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Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 9.

Game of the week: No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-0) at No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners (5-1, 3-1 Big 12), Saturday, 8 p.m., WJET (ABC)

Pregame rant: This is the Irish’s toughest test yet. Oklahoma’s lone loss was to No. 4 Kansas State, which has risen to the top of the Big 12.

It’s a classic match-up. Oklahoma is averaging 488.17 yards and 44.67 points a game. Notre Dame is allowing just 280.71 yards and 9.43 points a game.

Something has to give.

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Let’s recap Week 6, shall we?

Game of the week: No. 8 West Virginia at No. 11 Texas

Final score: Mountaineers 48, Longhorns 45

Pregame rant: Could have easily chosen one of the two SEC match ups of Top 10 teams, but this Big 12 match-up is so intriguing.

Heisman Trophy front-runner Geno Smith is coming off an Megatron performance – 656 yards passing, 8 TDs – in last week’s 70-63 win against Baylor. However, the Bears came into the game ranked 113th out of 120 teams in pass defense.

Baylor is now last in the nation in that category.

Can WVU torch Texas, which is a modest 43rd in pass defense? Don’t think so, but I also don’t see the Longhorns slowing down Smith and Mountaineers, either.

Post-game commentary: Smith only threw four touchdowns for the Mountaineers in their Big 12 road debut against the Longhorns. Smith got some help from WVU’s run game in the form of Andrew Buie, who rushed for 207 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries.

On WVU’s game-sealing drive late in the fourth, Buie closed it out with five rushes for 42 yards and a touchdown. The Mountaineers are still suspect on defense, but made a big stop in the fourth to help them stay unbeaten.

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