Michael Ventre

LOS ANGELES - BCS bean counters surely will be operating at peak efficiency this week, trying to decide which team should play Ohio State for the national title. Should it be USC? Michigan? Florida?

Amid that maelstrom, another question begs discussion:

Does Notre Dame deserve to play in a BCS bowl game?

It will. It’s just about a lock. Shortly after the Trojans laid a whipping on the Irish Saturday night, 44-24, at the Coliseum, there were already indications that the Sugar Bowl would want Notre Dame no matter what.

It makes sense, if you’re a businessman wearing a brightly colored blazer with a bowl patch on the front. Notre Dame has an enormous national following. A lot of loyal partisans will buy tickets, show up in blue and gold and spend a lot of cash. It’s probably not even an issue.

But maybe it should be.

Notre Dame finished its regular season 10-2. But it really didn’t bag any quality victories. The Irish played only three ranked teams and defeated one — Penn State, which was ranked No. 19 on Sept. 9 when the Nittany Lions fell, 41-17, at South Bend. But Penn State is unranked now, partly because it played four ranked teams this year and beat zero.

The Irish posted a solid win in the opener on the road against Georgia Tech. But it was embarrassed at home against Michigan, 47-21, on Sept. 16.

After that, Notre Dame won eight straight games. But it had to stage miracle comebacks against two teams it probably should have handled easily — Michigan State and UCLA.

Aside from USC, the rest of Notre Dame’s schedule is filled with the types of opponents that SEC teams put on their schedule when they need nonconference walkovers. There was Purdue, Stanford, North Carolina and the three service academies. One sign on the USC campus said that only the late Bob Hope had spent more time with the U.S. military than Notre Dame has.

Again, it’s a moot point. Notre Dame will be in a BCS bowl.

But does it deserve to be there?

“I just hope that’s the way it works out,” Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said after Saturday night’s game. “We had a very good year … We’ll be happy to go to any BCS bowl that takes us. If that’s what happens, then sign me up.”

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When asked if he thought his team deserved BCS inclusion, Notre Dame safety Tom Zbikowski, his face red with welts from knocking heads with Trojans, replied in the affirmative. “Yeah, definitely,” he answered. “We’re still a good team. We just got outplayed tonight.

“But it’s not my choice.”

Notre Dame was No. 5 in the BCS standings before losing in the Coliseum Saturday. They are now 10th. The Irish are guaranteed a BCS berth if they finish in the top eight. But any team in the top 14 is eligible. So naturally, an entity like the Sugar Bowl might snatch the Irish and their enormous entourage even if they weren’t among the top contenders.