Each season, a Saturday in late October or early November comes along, a Saturday that makes you realize that the middle of the season is over and the stretch run has begun. Such a Saturday arrived this past weekend, as the chase for the national title became finely focused.
There are now four teams that stand apart from the crowd: Alabama, Notre Dame, Kansas State, and Oregon. All four of those teams posted convincing wins this past weekend, but the fact that Notre Dame was one of them is what jolted this season into a new level of urgency.
Notre Dame had been skating by for most of this year. The Fighting Irish had excelled on defense, but not on offense. Coach Brian Kelly's team was fortunate to escape Stanford and BYU at home, requiring turnovers and bad passes from opposing quarterbacks to win low-scoring slugfests that could have gone in either direction. As Notre Dame prepared to face the Oklahoma Sooners on the road and at night, it seemed likely that the Irish would need to play better on offense in order to have a chance. Notre Dame needed to become a more complete team and demonstrate that it could execute at a much higher level than what it had shown over the previous few weeks.
Sure enough, that's precisely what the Irish managed to do. Kelly got his offense to play its best game of the season. Quarterback Everett Golson did not commit any truly substantial mistakes. He displayed excellent ball security, made great reads, and used his running ability to not only make plays, but keep Oklahoma's defensive ends off balance. Notre Dame didn't overwhelm Oklahoma's defense in the game's first 51 minutes, but the Irish - who did not enjoy very good field position - were able to move the ball regularly, flipping the field while also keeping Oklahoma's offense on the sidelines. The Irish were able to forge a 13-all tie heading into the final nine minutes of regulation, as good a scenario as they realistically could have hoped for. Yet, their offense needed to show that it could perform under pressure against a more credentialed opponent.
Kelly's crew promptly responded in the cauldron of crunch time. Golson hit a deep ball to set up a go-ahead touchdown, and after a spectacular interception by Notre Dame's Heisman Trophy contender, linebacker Manti Te'o, the Irish not only scored a putaway field goal, but did so by gaining an extra first down and burning the clock. On almost all of their possessions, the Irish - even when they didn't score - gained at least one first down, and that's why they were able to establish their preferred tempo. They bled the crimson-clad Sooners to death, and now - as a result - they are going to be favored to be 11-0 by the time Thanksgiving rolls around. Notre Dame - alongside Kansas State and Oregon - has a strong chance of winning out, creating a three-team logjam in the pursuit of No. 1 Alabama.
Yes, this college football season has passed the threshold. Get ready for the sprint to the finish line. and the great debate that's about to unfold among four teams and four different regional perspectives. If Alabama should beat LSU this upcoming Saturday and Oregon beats USC, the possibility of four unbeaten teams at the end of the season will become surprisingly real.
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