A-one-and-a-two...

The Irish rarely turn the ball over, are smarter than a Radio Shack store and have the uncanny knack of not losing. "We keep winning," says Taylor. "I don't know how, but we just do. We should be 5-4, some of the games we've played." On mystique alone, Notre Dame, two points.

BRIEF INTERLUDE NO. 2

Four facts about the movie Rudy to collect and swap:

1) Rudy played two plays at defensive end for the Irish. On the first one he missed the Georgia Tech quarterback. On the second he got him.

2) Rudy is not the most famous man on the 1975 Irish scout team. The scout team quarterback that year was a skinny, curly-haired nobody. Joe Montana.

3) Rudy was working as a maintenance man when the movie came out.

4) Rudy's reply when asked if it was true that no player has been carried off the field since he was: "Not consciously."

GOD
Tough call here for God. Bowden hits the pulpit at Baptist churches every Sunday he can. Holtz is a devout Catholic. Notre Dame has a few million subway alumni praying hard. The Grotto on the Notre Dame campus will have so many lit candles, it may ignite. Notre Dame, one point.

THE MAN WHO WORRIES ABOUT LOSING ON AN OPEN DATE

Holtz said, "This game is as important as any football game I've coached. Any time you win, your next game takes on more importance. I'm always scared to death early in the week when you have as much on the line as we do."