The Fighting Irish came into this college football season without lofty expectations, but, now seven games into the year, fans and experts are starting to see Notre Dame as a national championship caliber team.
The team is off to a 7-0 start, and its dominating defense has made short work of its tough schedule so far.
The Fighting Irish kept up the winning ways this weekend, defeating No. 8 Oklahoma 30-13. The win was seen as a way to cement the elite status for Notre Dame, Fox Sports noted. Going into the game, many college football experts doubted it the Fighting Irish could sustain their hot start, and they actually came in as underdogs to the Sooners.
”What we’d been hearing was a lot of people didn’t think we could win this game. That kind of just added that fuel to my fire that was already burning,” said Everett Golson, who threw for 177 yards ran for a decisive 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter against Oklahoma. ”We just wanted to come out and show them that we can.”
The win pushed the Fighting Irish up to No. 3 in the BCS rankings, up from No. 5 the previous week.
The win for the Fighting Irish was even more impressive considering Oklahoma had been 79-4 at home under coach Bob Stoops.
The Fighting Irish are now the only team in the country with four wins against Top 25 teams including two wins on the road against teams in the top 10.
The upcoming schedule could be a bit easier on The Fighting Irish, ESPN points out . With four games remaining in the regular season, Notre Dame faces only more more opponent with a winning record — USC.
