Notre Dame Climbs to No. 1, as Kansas St. and Oregon Upset

The Notre Dame Fighting are the sole unbeaten BCS contender following a 38-0 victory over Wake Forest and losses to the two top teams in the nation in a wild Saturday in college football.

The No. 1 Oregon Ducks lost a tight home game in overtime to the Stanford Cardinal, 17-14. The loss not only snapped a 13-game winning streak for Oregon, but seriously puts their national championship hopes in jeopardy.

The other undefeated program, the Kansas State Wildcats, were thumped by Baylor, 52-24, in Waco. The Wildcats entered the game at No. 2 and are likely to slip out of the top five as Alabama and Georgia climb the rankings.

Notre Dame is expected to be ranked No. 1 for the first time since 1988. The Ohio State Buckeyes are 11-0 but are serving a one-year bowl ban.

In other notable games, UCLA avenged a 50-0 loss to USC in 2011 with a victory over their local rivals at the Rose Bowl, 38-28. The Bruins are now set to compete in the Pac-12 conference title game.

USC, which lost quarterback Matt Barkley to an injury late in the fourth quarter, host Notre Dame on Nov. 24 at the Coliseum. The Irish have only defeated USC once in their past nine meetings.

LSU and Oklahoma also survived scares on Saturday to keep their bowl intentions alive.