I did a little digging into Jess' predictions this year, versus the actual results. What I found should make us feel pretty good.
Excluding the three non-BCS, box-of-chocolate opponents - Western Kentucky, Florida Atlantic, Western Carolina - Jess on average predicted a margin 10 points narrower than the actual margin, under-predicting our scoring by seven points per game, and over-predicting our opponents' scoring by three points per game. In only two games was there a negative variance between his prediction and the result: LSU, in which he predicted a seven-point Alabama win that turned out to be only four points (variance = -3); and TAMU, when he predicted a six-point win that turned out to be a five-point loss (variance = -11). Even throwing out the two biggest misses (+35 variance versus Arkansas and +25 versus Auburn), for the remaining eight games on average he nailed the opponents' scores and under-predicted ours by four points. Bottomline, Jess is almost an anti-homer.
Jess predicts a 10-point Alabama win. For Notre Dame to win by one point, Jess would have to have a variance of -11, equaling his worst of the year (TAMU). If you think Golson can replicate Manziel, that our defense has learned nothing since TAMU, and that we can be -3 in turnover margin, Notre Dame and 10 points is still a push; otherwise, based on results to date, you have to like the odds of an Alabama win.