Healthy Quinn a must for Irish
If the Irish get past Tennessee, don't look for them to suffer a letdown against any of their last three opponents. Weis keeps his players in the here and now. They bounced back nicely against BYU and chalked up a 49-23 win just a week after their heartbreaking loss to USC.

Weis is a very focused person, and I think he gets his team very, very focused for each game so I don't see a letdown by the Irish being an issue at all. Instead, the thing that could derail the Irish hopes of playing in a BCS bowl would be an injury to quarterback Brady Quinn.

Quinn's a tough guy, and for the last three seasons he has shown remarkable resilience in getting up after taking some hard hits. He's having such a superb season that he's become a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate.

The junior just keeps getting better under the tutelage of Weis and Irish quarterbacks coach Peter Vaas. Against BYU he threw for a school-record six touchdown passes while on his way to a 32-of-41, 467-yard passing game -- his third 400-yard passing game of the season. 

College football Two-man race with Tebow, McFadden

Quinn is the one guy the Irish can't afford to lose, so more than Notre Dame letting down against weaker opponents, the concern of the Irish fans is that Quinn stay healthy. Quinn's backup, sophomore David Wolke, has appeared in just two games this season, and has attempted only three passes.

Getting better could pay off
Even though the Irish have been quite impressive to this point in the season, I think they will continue to improve. Weis was pleased after the win over BYU, but he said the Irish would spend their bye week addressing three things he felt they needed to work on: ball security, tackling, and taking too many penalties.

Although all of these are concerns of Weis, I don't see any of them being a consistent problem for Notre Dame. But knowing Weis you can bet the Irish players will be drilled hard on improving in these areas.

The prestige and respect that comes with playing in a BCS bowl would mean a lot to Notre Dame. And in this the final year of the current BCS contract, it's quite beneficial financially to the Irish if they play in a Big Four bowl.

Under the present deal if Notre Dame qualifies as an at-large team, it is allowed to keep all of the $14 million BCS payout. But in the new BCS contract which begins next season, should Notre Dame reach a BCS bowl its payout is reduced to $4.5 million.

MORE FROM NOTRE DAME CENTRAL

Notre Dame Central Section Front

Inside the Irish blog: Latest news and analysis Predictions 101: Irish to bounce back, edge Pitt Inside the Irish: TE Rudolph out for the season Fighting Irish face tough test at No. 8 Pitt Inside the Irish: Theme of week is accountability ND's loss to Navy puts pressure on Weis again Notre Dame drops out of Top 25 Five things we learned: Red zone offense killed Irish Navy likely sinks Notre Dame's BCS bowl hopes Floyd's back, competition with Tate resumes Notre Dame Central Section Front   Add Notre Dame Central headlines to your news reader: