Irish ayes are green

The official bowl season doesn't start until next month, but for Notre Dame, it starts tomorrow against Stanford. Oh, the schedule says it's a regular-season game -- at Stanford. One more victory and the Irish will finish 9-2, which should earn coach Charlie Weis Coach of the Year votes.

But it's more than a game. Much more. Notre Dame, as one of the few remaining independents, does not have to share its bowl money, as is the case with schools affiliated with conferences.

A victory over Stanford makes the Irish a lock for a Bowl Championship Series bid, most likely the Fiesta Bowl. The payout for that game is between $17 million and $18.5 million.

If Notre Dame loses, it will wind up in the Gator Bowl. The payoff there is approximately $1.6 million. That's a big difference.

But there's more. When BCS started in 1992-93 as the Bowl Coalition, it made an initial deal that Notre Dame would get the same money as any conference if the Irish qualified for a BCS game.

That sweetheart deal was altered last April when BCS commissioners said Notre Dame would no longer receive special treatment. Starting next year, if Notre Dame qualifies for a BCS game, it will receive the same amount teams such as Penn State and Southern California will receive, which this year is approximately $3.5 million.

But the Irish also received a guarantee that if they fail to qualify for a bowl game, they will receive approximately $1 million. The deal states the Irish will get the same amount of money any conference team will get that isn't bowl-eligible.

Small wonder Irish officials are a little more nervous about the Stanford game than normal. Weis says the goal is to make the BCS field every year.''Every bowl game is important," Weis said earlier this week at his weekly press conference. ''To be chosen one of the eight best programs in the country, that's something special. When you put yourself in that select group as one of the best, you are making a major statement for the program. We're trying to get to 9-2, so hopefully one of those BCS games will end up taking us."

There is no doubt about that. Fiesta Bowl president John Junker will be at the game and while he will not formally invite the Irish if they win, he will leave several bags of Tostitos -- the bowl's primary sponsor -- in their locker room.

Notre Dame's rise this year has thrust it back into a position of stature and power. The results of tomorrow's game affects not only the Irish, but three conferences -- Pacific-10, Southeastern, and Big Ten -- that are looking to put a second team into a BCS game.

A loss would also affect the Big East, since an Irish defeat would put Notre Dame in the Big East's slot in the Gator Bowl and bump everyone down a notch in the pecking order.

All of this is amazing because Notre Dame has lost its last seven bowl games. Yet it is Notre Dame and there is little question that if the Fiesta Bowl did not select the Irish, the Orange and Sugar would gladly take them.

Eagles' flight plan?

Boston College's bowl situation will become clearer after the weekend. For now, the Eagles seem pointed in the direction of the Music City Bowl in Nashville against a Big Ten team, likely Minnesota. The Eagles can still wind up in the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Fla., but for that to happen both Florida State and Miami will have to be unavailable. That can happen if Miami winds up in the Gator Bowl and Florida State goes to the Peach Bowl or wins the Atlantic Coast Conference's BCS berth. BC fans wanting to go to Orlando need to root for Florida State to beat Florida tomorrow or knock off Virginia Tech or Miami in the ACC title game . . . USC finishes its season next week against UCLA but already has clinched the Pac-10 title because it wins the tiebreakers with UCLA and Oregon. The tiebreakers go down to head-to-head games against other Pac-10 teams. The three teams worked their way down to lowly Arizona (3-7). USC and Oregon beat Arizona, UCLA did not. Thus UCLA is eliminated and USC beat Oregon State, so the Trojans are the Pac-10 champions, even if they lose to UCLA. If the Bruins win and finish 10-1, they would still not receive a BCS bid, while a potentially 8-4 Florida State (as ACC champion) would receive one . . . Fresno State, which suffered a wild 50-42 loss to USC last Saturday night, is heading East for its bowl game, playing in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis against the Conference USA champion, probably Central Florida. It will be Fresno's seventh straight bowl game, but first east of the Mississippi, if only barely . . . Here's a scenario that would shake up the Big East. Kansas State is looking for a head coach to replace the retiring Bill Snyder. South Florida's Jim Leavitt is, according to sources at Kansas State, on a very short list as a replacement. If that happens, South Florida should sprint to the home of former Miami and Cleveland Browns coach Butch Davis and offer whatever it takes. If Davis reappears in the state of Florida as a Big East coach, with a BCS bid available, you can be sure the throats will tighten in Gainesville and Miami as the hunt for recruits in the talent-rich state gets more competitive . . . Texas A&M quarterback Reggie McNeal plays his final home game today against Texas. All that's at stake is Texas's chance of reaching the BCS title game, a bowl bid for A&M (which is 5-5), and redemption for the Aggies, who have been woeful at times this season. ''It's going to be my last time stepping on Kyle Field," said McNeal, who sprained his left ankle against Oklahoma two weeks ago. ''It means a whole lot." . . . Barring upsets in the Top 5, the Fiesta Bowl will probably take Notre Dame against Ohio State over Notre Dame-Oregon, despite a full-court press from Oregon officials who visited the Valley of the Sun earlier this week to campaign for an at-large slot . . . Rutgers must beat Cincinnati to assure itself an Insight Bowl bid. A win will give the Scarlet Knights their first record (4-3) above .500 in the Big East . . . South Florida must beat Connecticut tomorrow and West Virginia next week to get the Big East's BCS bid.

(Material from wire services was used in compiling this report)