Notre Dame...Number 1

One of my earliest memories as a sports fan was a two-week span in 1993 when the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, my favorite college football team, rose to the number one ranking in the nation after topping previous No. 1 Florida State only to see it all slip away the next Saturday with a last-second, narrow loss to unranked Boston College.
Since the loss to the Eagles, the Irish have never regained the coveted No. 1 spot in the Associated Press poll.
That was until last night - and the way it happened could not have been more surprising.
Already having a memorable season in which they won their first 10 games for the first time since the heartbreaking 1993 campaign - the Irish were ranked third in both the AP and BCS ratings heading into Saturday. No. 1 Kansas State (at Baylor) and No. 2 Oregon (vs. Stanford) both had challenging match-ups, but both were suppose to win and regain their top rankings.
The Irish, who played earlier in the day, destroyed Wake Forest 38-0 and were put into position to watch both Oregon and K-State play at night.
Surprisingly, Baylor jumped on Kansas State early and often - capping a 55-24 victory. And while Oregon led most of the way, it was the Stanford Cardinal who put together a game-tying drive in the final minutes to send the game into overtime, before kicking a field goal to win it.
And just like that, the Irish were No. 1.
But with a USC team that has had ND's number as of late on the slate next week in Southern California, the 2012 version of the Fighting Irish need to make sure they do not repeat the fate of their counterparts from 19 years ago. That would be losing a game against an unranked team with a chance for a championship on the line.