FLORIDA STATE 1 VS. 2 NOTRE DAME : The Storm in South Bend Will Be the One on the Field : College football: The only elements No. 1 Florida State and No. 2 Notre Dame will be up against will be on opposite sides of the football.

The only prediction worth noting about today’s game between No. 1 Florida State and No. 2 Notre Dame is provided by weather forecasters. If you get misty-eyed at the sight of Touchdown Jesus or the mention of Knute Rockne, the news is not altogether good.

According to local meteorologists, there will be variable cloudiness, a chance of morning showers, some wind and a high temperature of 62. A recipe for frostbite, it isn’t.

Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden isn’t complaining. Earlier this week, he instructed his assistants to draw up two game plans, one for pleasant conditions and one for the worst-case scenario: snow, bitter cold, driving rain, sleet, high wind . . . that sort of thing.

Instead, he gets Indian Summer.

“I don’t worry about the weather,” Bowden said, “because there’s not a darn thing we can do about it.”

But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t thought about it. If asked, Bowden can recite the game-day conditions and results of about every Florida State adventure in the cold. The 1976 visit to North Texas State, where five inches of snow covered the ground by kickoff? Bowden remembers. The 1983 Peach Bowl? Coldest game he ever coached in, Bowden says. The 1991 freezer at Louisville? Florida State won by 25.

“Now, Louisville’s not Notre Dame,” said Bowden.

No, it isn’t. However, the Irish are undefeated--a sparkling 9-0, just like the Seminoles--and better yet, at home, where strange, wonderful things often happen to Notre Dame. The Irish are tied with Florida State for the longest Division I-A winning streak (16), feature a running attack that averages 5.2 yards per carry and are coached by a 155-pound wisp of a man who is a foot taller when given an extra week to prepare for a regular-season game.

Bowden, who has known Irish Coach Lou Holtz since 1959, recognizes a setup when he sees one.

“This is Lou’s element,” he said. “No. 1, be the underdog (Florida State is favored by about a touchdown). Oh, lord, he eats that up. Give him an extra week . . . he eats that up. Playing in his back yard in front of his people. . . .

“He ought to feel pretty good right now.”

Holtz feel good about a game? Bowden should have known better. To hear Holtz tell it, Florida State is the finest team ever assembled. “A team with no weakness,” Holtz said. “Plus, they’re on a mission.”

This is true. Florida State has never won a national championship. Notre Dame has won eight. The winner of today’s game has the inside track to a Fiesta Bowl appearance against, say, Miami, or a visit to the Orange Bowl and a probable matchup against Nebraska. A rematch between the Seminoles and Irish is a possibility, but nobody is holding his breath.

Bowden predicts a tight game. “I just can’t see it being anything but close,” he said. Louisville Coach Howard Schnellenberger, who owns a national title from his days at Miami, says Florida State will win in a blowout. USC Coach John Robinson remains publicly noncommittal, but he mentions Notre Dame’s power running game. A lot.

He didn’t need to bother. Bowden knows all about it.

“The thing I would be most concerned about with Notre Dame is that they get the football and simply not give it back to us, which I think would be very unfair of Lou,” Bowden said.

The Irish average 273 yards rushing per game. Their offensive line, led by tackle Aaron Taylor, outweighs Florida State’s defensive line by about 40 pounds per man. To the Seminoles, this grabs their attention more than the ghosts of the Four Horsemen.

“It’s very scary,” Florida State linebacker Derrick Brooks said. “We’re probably outmanned up front.”

Notre Dame isn’t without its own concerns. So desperate was Holtz for a dependable kickoff man that he auditioned three players from the school’s soccer team. In the end, Holtz decided to stick with Kevin Pendergrast. And when Holtz named Adrian Jarrell as his punter this week, he did so, he said, because “(Jarrell) has kicked it over 20 yards in the air the most consistently.”

The Irish have other worries, such as Florida State quarterback Charlie Ward and trying to mask a weakness at linebacker, where Notre Dame lacks speed. That’s where those two weeks of preparation come in.

Holtz has gone out of his way, even more so than usual, to praise Florida State and his buddy Bowden. But listen long enough and you can hear the difference between fear and rhetoric.

“I can only tell you how I feel,” Holtz said. “I think (FSU) is the most impressive football team I’ve coached against, statistically.”

And, “They are probably the most impressive team I’ve seen on film.”

This is coach-ese for, “They can be beaten.”

Whatever happens, Bowden said he plans to savor the moment. After all, this is a special day for the Florida State coach, who grew up in Birmingham, Ala., but always followed the Irish. His players might not know who the Gipper was, but Bowden does.

“The magnitude of this game is as great or greater than any I’ve played at Florida State,” Bowden said. “Notre Dame, to me, throws everything out of balance.”

An Irish victory would accomplish the same thing, sending the Seminoles down in the rankings and creating a new poll order. But first things first, like kickoff.