Manti Te’o and the Notre Dame defense couldn’t stop Alabama’s offense in the BCS title game. (John Bazemore/AP)

By Zac Ellis

Those who watched Alabama’s drubbing of Notre Dame in January’s BCS title game saw the Crimson Tide overwhelm the Irish’s vaunted defense. While Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly can’t argue with that assessment, he doesn’t think the loss exposed one of the team’s defensive stars.

Kelly defended the play of star linebacker Manti Te’o, who was one of the country’s top defensive players and a Heisman Trophy runner-up in 2012. Kelly was asked in an NFL Network interview whether Te’o was exposed against Alabama, to which he simply replied, “No.”

Instead, Kelly contended that his team did not play up to its potential against a hungry Crimson Tide team.

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The good news for ASU: Todd Graham is well-versed in the art of dumping teams. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

By Zac Ellis

On Tuesday, news broke that Notre Dame was adding Florida State to its upcoming ACC schedule for 2014. The Irish are joining the ACC in every sport except football, but will still play five football games against ACC teams in their inaugural season.

Alongside that news came word that Notre Dame might be dropping Arizona State from its 2014 slate. According to Fox Sports Arizona, neither team has made anything official, so as of now the two programs are still slated to face off in Tempe on Oct. 25, 2014. But Sun Devils athletic director Steve Patterson didn’t let that stop him from opening up on Notre Dame’s apparent disinterest in keeping his program on its schedule.

In an interview with Phoenix radio station XTRA Sports 910 AM, Patterson went after Notre Dame’s manner of handling business:

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What glories yet await Cory Dorris and the Golden Hurricane as Conference USA play continues? (AP)

Our weekly highlight show of lesser FBS luminaries. Non-AQs and independents, be welcome.

Tis the season for car commercials with big-ass bows and conference math. We attempted to explain, in bewildering detail, how the MAC races could shake out from here in our Wednesday night MACtion preview. We are here to inform you (with some glee, as we adore late-season chaos) that the MAC has far from the most convoluted conference race situation at the moment. Very quickly, the current states of the remaining non-AQ conference races, as teams not named Navy or BYU begin to prettify themselves for postseason suitors:

• Conference USA: Two teams with perfect 6-0 league play records top the two divisions: Central Florida in the East and Tulsa in the West. After Saturday, one squad’s record will bear some blemish when the two clash in Tulsa, but don’t expect that to affect the race. The Knights have only UAB to clear after that in the regular season, and hold a head-to-head advantage over East Carolina, the only other team in the division with fewer than three conference losses. Tulsa’s championship game aspirations could still be spoiled with a loss tonight and another at SMU November 24, assuming the Mustangs (4-2 in league play) beat Rice in the meantime.

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MORE PRIMERS: ACC | Big 12 | Big East | Big Ten | Pac-12 | SEC

It won’t be too many more seasons until “mid-majors” are a dated concept, but until then, we present assorted burning questions for non-AQ conferences and independents heading into spring ball:

Independents

Dual-threat redshirt freshman Everett Golson could beat out Tommy Rees and Andrew Hendrix for Notre Dame's starting job. (US PRESSWIRE)

Time once again for everybody’s favorite game show, “Name! That! Irish! Quarterback!” A familiar question for Notre Dame, with a couple familiar answers. The oft-maligned Tommy Rees returns, as does Andrew Hendrix, both of whom you’ll remember from the 2011 position race. In hot pursuit: dual-threat redshirt freshman Everett Golson, who topped Bruce Feldman’s Tuesday Top 10 “most intriguing” list, and shiny recruitnik brass ring Gunner Kiel, whose chest has been insulted by Les Miles. Standout veteran tailback talent Cierre Wood will alleviate some of the pressure to produce yardage, but star receiver Michael Floyd won’t be around to make whoever wins out look pretty anymore.

Conference USA

Will changes at Houston hobble forward progress? Pinball wizard Case Keenum isn’t walking through that door, and neither is Kevin Sumlin. Gone, too, are Bryce Beall, Michael Hayes, Tyron Carrier, Justin Johnson and Patrick Edwards. Newly installed head coach Tony Levine is running right at these vacancies, and creating a few more, announcing open competition at every position with a cheeky depth chart graphic. Look to last year’s leading rusher Charles Sims to shoulder the bulk of offensive production as the rest of his unit readjusts. Also re-acclimating: A defense that didn’t spend enough seasons in Brian Stewart’s 3-4 to build a full complement of players to run it and is now flipping back to the 4-3 under promoted former linebackers coach Jamie Bryant. Whee!

What the Cougars do have, apart from Sims, is a poppin’ fresh, patisserie-made schedule that should allow them plenty of room to flex and grow into Levine’s regime. And then some. Get past Louisiana Tech on September 8 and they won’t face another team that finished 2011 with a winning record until SMU on October 20. Tulsa and Marshall are Houston’s only other opponents not currently smarting from sub-.500 seasons. It’s a nice lull in which the Cougars can get their feet set as a team before they head off to the Big East, which will provide marginally fewer pushover teams.

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