Notre Dame has two games and a bowl game remaining. I've heard from someone who is in the know that 1 or 2 wins guarantees a Gator Bowl invite, while 1 or 0 wins sees us heading to the St. Petersburg Bowl.

Wins against UConn and ranked Stanford would have us at 8-4 with a bowl game. Winning out thus gives us 9-4 with a win over a ranked Stanford and, most likely, a win over a ranked opponent in Jacksonville.

This is the worst case.

Can Jack Swarbuck fire a coach who took a reeling team, beat a decent Connecticut team hungry for an emotional win, and then beat a damn good Stanford team on the road? Who then went on to win in a bowl game for the second time in a row, a feat not accomplished since the height of the Lou Holtz era?

I say no.

And that's scary.

Notre Dame has the talent to destroy Connecticut. It's senior day and most likely Clausen's last performance at Notre Dame Stadium (maybe Tate's too). There should be no doubt. But there is. And it's Charlie's fault.

Stanford is excellent, but I believe that, with our talent, we should be able to out-score anyone. A decent coach would have our team motivated and, all the while, feeding Jimmy on the idea of moving up on NFL draft boards.

A bowl win in this scenario and with our team is equally as likely, considering our most probably opponents are mid-tier ACC teams like Miami.

In the end, I know that a win against Connecticut is likely, but sadly not certain. A loss against Stanford is probably close to 85% certain and a trip to the St. Petersburg bowl is almost ordained.

Hopefully, we will have a new coach that I, as a new alumnus, can root for all the time.