The ongoing saga of Manti Te’o and his fake dead girlfriend, “Lennay Kekua,” continues to amaze and confound. We’re now a couple days removed from Deadspin’s initial bombshell report, and since then several people connected with either Te’o or Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the man said to be behind the hoax. Te’o himself hasn’t spoken up beyond a statement he released shortly after Deadspin broke the story, and obviously people are clamoring to hear more from him. Until that happens, let us be your guides to show you exactly where this story stands. We break it down after the jump.

In the wake of Deadspin’s stunning report yesterday that the girlfriend of Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o, Lennay Kekua, who supposedly died of cancer during the 2012 college football season, never existed, various media outlets and reporters came under fire for writing features on Te’o and including the story of his fake girlfriend without figuring out she didn’t exist. One of those reporters: SI’s Pete Thamel, who wrote this story in October. Today, Thamel posted the full transcript of his interview with Te’o that served as the basis for his story, and in so doing ensured that everyone will keep right on obsessing over the Te’o story for the foreseeable future.

When Notre Dame wrapped up an undefeated regular season and Alabama edged Georgia for the SEC title, assuring the two teams of a meeting at Sun Life Stadium for the national championship, more than a few ESPN bigwigs were undoubtedly ecstatic, dreaming of unprecedented numbers of eyeballs fixed on their network. Did their dreams become reality?

The night belonged to ‘Bama. The season belongs to ‘Bama. And if Nick Saban & Co. keep this up, the entire decade will belong to ‘Bama too. That, plus a massive NBA upset. Let’s break it down.

Tonight, the two most important college football programs in the history of everything will be lining up and hitting each other in the mouth, and as a public service, we figured we’d provide you with the best (legal!) way to watch Notre Dame vs. Alabama. It’s the BCS National Championship game, and it’s live. On your computer screen.

I wanted to hate you, official Notre Dame music video promoting Manti Te’o for the Heisman. It’s not that I hate Te’o by any means, but I don’t have a particularly soft spot for Notre Dame, so I expected hatred to come easily. But it didn’t. You can decide for yourself after the jump.

What is the greatest tradition in college football? Lee Corso dressing up to make his pick-of-the-week at the end of ESPN’s College Gameday? I completely agree.

Last week, ESPN College Gameday’s Lee Corso dressed up like a chicken. Today, he dressed up like a leprechaun.

Sure, today all you’re hearing about Golden Tate is that the game-winning touchdown pass he caught last night on the last play of the game while fighting for the ball and surrounded by defenders shouldn’t have counted. And… well, no, it shouldn’t have counted. But – and we have to thank SportsCenter for jogging our memory here – Tate’s been down this “last-second touchdown catch while surrounded by defenders” road before. Take a highlight-reel trip down memory lane above.