Divine intervention. Or not.

Look, I've seen the bumper stickers. Also the T-shirts. They're as old as the hills, and the sentiment they express is older than that, older even than the moment Gus Dorais first threw a skinny post to Knute Rockne, and all mankind was changed forever.

Well, OK. So maybe just mankind on Saturday afternoons in the fall, then.

In any event, the bumper stickers/T-shirts said God Made Notre Dame No. 1, back when Notre Dame still occasionally was No. 1. Admittedly, it's been awhile since God did that. Perhaps he's been busy.

But the notion still endures that Notre Dame is God's favorite football team, as if the Creator of all things is just another schmo wearing a Joe Montana jersey and playing cornhole in the tailgating districts south and east of Notre Dame Stadium. Non-Notre Dame fans ridicule this pitilessly, of course. Notre Dame fans merely shake their heads at the critics' lack of spiritual understanding.

The Blob leans toward the God-doesn't-care-about-football position. Although sometimes things happen that make it wonder.

Saturday was one of those sometimes.

If you weren't paying attention, (and you should have been because it's October, and October means college football, and that I do know is ordained by heaven), a whole lot of shakin' went on in the ranks yesterday. LSU got Georgia down in Death Valley and crushed the Bulldogs. Oregon knocked off Washington. Michigan State, fresh off getting euthanized by Northwestern at home, rose from the crypt to put a smotin' on Penn State. And Iowa State kicked around West Virginia.

All four of the losers were ranked in the top eight. And Georgia was ranked No. 2 behind Alabama Inc.

And Notre Dame?

Notre Dame, sitting at No. 5, coughed and wheezed and somehow survived a sickly afternoon against a "meh" Pittsburgh squad. That, plus all the losing among the top eight teams, puts the Irish squarely in the Ring of Honor -- i.e., the top four, also known as The Playoff Four.

In other words, Saturday left you with the inescapable conclusion that everything seems to be falling into place for the Irish. And, as such, it's absolute confirmation (if you're a Domer) that God loves N.D. above all others.

Either that, or they're just a bunch of lucky SOBs who always seem to get every break -- plus they have their own TV network, which isn't fair, either.

The opposing view, naturally.