These are heady days for Notre Dame football. The controversy and cries of racism that followed last season's firing of Tyrone Willingham - the school's first African-American coach in any sport - have been replaced by cheers, and more cheers, for old Charlie Weis.
The Fighting Irish are back in the Bowl Championship Series for the first time in five years.
They are also back in the picture for being recognized as one Fiesta Bowl official called them recently, "clearly a national program."
But has Notre Dame been passed by the University of Southern California as the best program in college football history?
There are arguments on both sides, but this fence seems to be tilting toward the Trojans. If, as expected, Reggie Bush is announced tomorrow as this year's Heisman Trophy winner in New York, the junior tailback would become the seventh USC player to win the award and the third in the past four seasons, following quarterback Matt Leinart last year and Leinart's predecessor, Carson Palmer, in 2002.
Only Notre Dame can claim as many Heisman winners (seven), but its last was wide receiver Tim Brown - in 1987. In fact, no Irish player has even been invited as a Heisman finalist since Rocket Ismail, in 1990. (Deserving junior quarterback Brady Quinn was cut out this year when ESPN decided to invite only Bush, Leinart and Texas quarterback Vince Young rather than the typical five candidates.)
If the top-ranked Trojans beat the second-ranked Longhorns in the Rose Bowl next month, it will mark the 12th time USC has won a "recognized" national championship. More significantly, the Trojans will become the first team in history to win three straight championships.
The Fighting Irish have also won a "recognized" 11 national titles. But the Irish haven't finished a season on top of any national poll since 1988, and seven of those 11 championships came before 1950.
USC's most remarkable accomplishments during this recent stretch of dominance are, of course, its 34 straight victories and 30 straight weeks being ranked No. 1.
The latter is a record, with the Trojans passing both Notre Dame (19) and Miami (20) earlier this season. The winning streak is not, but what the Trojans have done in their world of media coverage and relative parity is far more impressive than what the Oklahoma Sooners did in theirs by winning 47 straight games in the mid-1950s.
