Was it the green uniforms or is Notre Dame's football regressing as the final days of the 2015 season approach.

Whatever it is, last week's performance in a 19-16 win over Boston College at Fenway Park was a real dud and not worthy of playing for the national football championship. It was fortunate that the Irish were playing a 3-6 BC team, that has a great defense but a terrible offense.The committee in charge of deciding the 4 teams which will play in the national championship tournament noticed the poor performance by the Irish last week and against Wake Forest, two teams that each had only three wins, and dropped ND to sixth place in the latest rankings. Moving ahead of the Irish were Iowa and Michigan State. ND's chances of getting into the Final Four is now slim at best.In the BC game, the Irish had three red-zone turnovers, another fumble and interception in the first 30 minutes along with two fumbles in which the ruling favored the ND as the player being ruled down by contact; and three dropped passes by one of the nation's top receivers, Will Fuller.Despite all that the Irish managed to hold on for a win. Add to that the worst performance by Quarterback DeShone Kizer this season. Perhaps his youth is finally catching up with him, or was it the fact BC has the best defense in the country.It was an horrible performance by the Irish who head into Tonight's "must win" game against a good Stanford team. As I wrote several weeks ago, tonight's game is apparently a "play in" game for the national championship tournament. ND still has a shot at getting one of the four slots for the title but their fate is not only in their own hands but that of other teams.Kelly said before the game is plan was to be more aggressive than the week before against Wake Forest. Kelly also said that the team, before the Wake game, worked on red-zone plays. Neither happened last week. The red-zone play speaks for itself and the failure to protect the football is something playoff teams due, but ND didn't and that is why they are not a playoff caliber team at the moment.The Irish also lost running back C.J. Prosise to another injury in the second quarter. A high ankle sprain will probably keep him out tonight. Before he got injured, Prosise did get the 25 yards he needed for 1,000 rushing yards for the season. Senior cornerback KeiVarae Russell will miss six to eight weeks with a broken right tibia sustained in the BC game. This brings to 10 the total Irish players out of the lineup due to injuries. All are either starters or first-line replacements.The Irish, yet again, failed to put another opponent away when they were in position to do so. ND gave up a 67-yard kickoff return to start the second half and then the defense gave up a 87-yard TD run by BC QB Jeff Smith at a time they could have put the Eagles away for the night.This is not the type of football that wins national titles and again Kelly and his staff must take the blame. Poor preparation and little emotion from a team that knows every game means a chance for a shot at the national title. In the last two games the Irish have looked more like a team trying to find themselves than a team that has played 11 games and are now 10-1.More on the game later.Today the Irish face a Stanford team that enters at 9-2 and has its own playoff hopes. The Cardinal only losses have been to Northwestern, 16-6, in the season opener, and two weeks ago to Oregon, 38-36. The wins have been over UCF, 31-7; USC, 41-31; Oregon State, 42-24; Arizona, 55-17; UCLA, 56-35; Washington, 31-14; Washington State, 30-28; Colorado, 42-10; and California last week, 35-22. As you can tell by the scores, Stanford can score some points.The Cardinals rely heavily on their rushing attack and has an exception running back in Christian McCaffrey, who has amassed 1,584 yards this year on 260 carries and 7 touchdowns. He gets some help from Barry Anders, with 315 yards on 48 carries and quarterback Kevin Hogan, with 364 yards on 64 carries. Both have four TDs apiece. He is fourth nationally in rushing average and first in all-purpose yards.Hogan is a veteran and has completed 168-of-250 passes for 19 TDs and sevenh interceptions. He has a 161.6 efficiency percentage, which is seventh in the nation. In comparison Kizer is 19th nationally with a 152.5 percentage. Top receivers are McCaffrey with 34 catches for 416 yards and three scores; Michael Rector 27/423/4; and Austin Hooper, 26/379/5.ND leads the series, 19-10 but has lost the last three games played at Stanford. ND won last year in South Bend, 17-14 but lost in 2013 in Stanford, 27-20.The game will be televised nationally on Fox with a 7:40 p.m. kickoff.IRISH NOTES: Some game stats. Kizer finished with 20 completions in 38 attempts for 320 yards, two TDs and three interceptions. Prosise finished with 54 yards on nine carries; Josh Adams, 39 on 13; and Kizer 33 on seven. Fuller caught three passes for 72; Chris Brown, six for 104 and one score; Carlisle 7-for-97 and a score; and Torii Hunter Jr., 2-for-22. BC outrushed the Irish, 214 to 127, while ND had the passing edge, 320 yards to 88....C.J. Sanders misplayed a couple of punts, losing yards rather than advance the ball to add to the miserable play of the Irish. Kicker Justin Yoon missed a 44-yard field goal attempt but he was roughed on the kick so it didn't count. Two plays later, Kizer hit Amir Carlisle with the only TD in the first half....ND has now outscored its opponents, 116-43 in the first quarter of games this year. It's the highest-scoring and most lopsided quarter of the season.....ND came into the BC game at 8-0-2 all-time when playing a neutral site game within 30 miles of an opponent's home. ND has now won all seven Shamrock Series games played to date. By the way the series will make it first encore appearance in 2016 when the game is played in San Antonio, Texas, and Army the opponent....In my preseason picks, I had the Irish winning today. That must be changed. The way ND has played the last two games, knowing it needed one-side victories to impress the selection committee, is proof, in my mind, that Kelly will never win a national title at ND. Stanford is favored by four points. Sorry to say the Irish finish at 10-2 and play in a New Year's Day bowl game, but not for a national title.