SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The rankings say Notre Dame is No. 1 going into the BCS championship against Alabama. Plenty of folks aren’t buying it, starting with the oddsmakers who have the Crimson Tide as about a touchdown favorite for the Jan. 7 meeting in Miami between two of college football’s proudest programs.

The Fighting Irish aren’t sweating the point spread. In fact, it’s pretty much business as usual for Notre Dame, which has a chance to become the first team since 1984 to start the season unranked and end it as national champions.

“Everybody thought everybody was better than us,” defensive tackle Louis Nix III said Monday. “Oklahoma was better than us. USC was better than us.