Notre Dame coach has unbeaten experience

• Notre Dame is unbeaten, and its coach is familiar with the position
• The Irish could have a difficult set of obstacles to overcome to reach the national championship
• Notre Dame and Boston College kick off at 8 p.m. Eastern

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Of all the injustices that have taken place in the BCS era, never has a head coach led two different schools to undefeated seasons and been left out of the national championship both times.

So you could say Brian Kelly might be on track for something unprecedented this season.

Besides all the obvious reasons Kelly left Cincinnati to take the Notre Dame job three years ago, there's no doubt that BCS politics played at least a small role. In 2009, Cincinnati went 12-0 and won the Big East, earning a berth in the Sugar Bowl. But the Bearcats were never considered for the national championship game and finished No. 3 in the final BCS standings behind Alabama and Texas.

Notre Dame, of course, is a different animal. With the brand name and tradition and typically high preseason rankings, it's hard to imagine a scenario where the Irish could win all their games and get left out of the national title game under the current BCS setup.

Of course, we now know that it might very well happen again.

It looks more and more likely that even style points won't save Notre Dame now, not after last week's three-overtime squeaker against Pitt. Unless two of the three undefeated teams ranked above the Irish lose, they just can't move up enough in the human polls to pass Oregon, Alabama or Kansas State.

After going through it once before at Cincinnati, is it hard for Kelly to believe it might happen again at Notre Dame?

"If you told me that Alabama and Oregon are also undefeated, as well as Notre Dame, I'd say there's a chance, there's a chance," he said at his weekly press conference. "Those are teams that have been here and done that. Notre Dame hasn't done it in awhile, and those teams are undefeated, too. I'd say, well,there's a chance we might get left out."

All Notre Dame can do now is win and hope, and that starts tonight at Boston College, a team that should pose no threat at 2-7 overall.The Eagles' only victories so far this season are against Maine and Maryland, and it looks like head coach Frank Spaziani could be on his way out barring a late-season turnaround. New athletic director Brad Bates will certainly be evaluating how the team finishes, and a massive upset tonight would certainly help Spaziani's cause.

More likely, Notre Dame will go to 10-0. But whether they win by three or 30, it hardly matters at this point. Notre Dame needs help.