The Skill of the Irish

By Jasmine Watkins

(US Presswire/Matt Cashore)

This Irish doesn’t need any luck, they are for real.

With an impressive win over No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners Saturday night, No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish are showing the nation they are a team to believe in. They are now an impressive 8-0 and with upcoming games against Pitt, Boston College and Wake Forest it looks like they could make a nice run for the No. 2 spot in the nation.

The final score was 30-13 although it was much closer than the score indicated. The Irish didn’t blow it open until late in the fourth.

Before the game, many were counting them out saying that their defensive linemen would never be able to stop Oklahoma on offense. The Sooners were the favorite by a double-digit margin.

“Coming into this game, I knew people were picking Oklahoma to win,” senior linebacker, Manti Te’o said in a post game interview with ESPN. “We just got to come in a play our game and show people we deserve to be here and I think we did that.”

Did they ever. Offensively and defensively they are a team to be feared and revered.

Lead by Te’o, the defensive numbers this team is putting up haven’t been demonstrated by the Irish since 1999.

“I think we have a huge chip on our shoulders,” Te’o said. “We always come in with a point to prove and I think everyone is starting to take notice to that now.”

Te’o had a superb 11 tackles, one sack and one interception. That interception couldn’t have come at a better time, sealing the victory late in the fourth quarter as the Sooners were trying to make a late push to tie the game.

There should be no doubt about the Irish at this point. Winning on the road at Norman isn’t easy. This game marks the second game this season that the Sooners have dropped at home. Before this they had never lost two games at home in the same season under coach Bob Stoops. Heading into the season he was undefeated against top 25 teams at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, but with their loss to Kansas State and of course Notre Damn, many Sooner fans are left scratching their heads.

Statistics don’t phase the Irish. Besides, they have always had this strange hold over the Sooners and have now won nine of the past ten games against them.

It’s BCS or bust for this Notre Dame squad and Saturday they made a strong argument as to why they should be No. 2 Saturday. Add this win to the ones against Michigan, Michigan St., and Stanford and you’ve got yourself quite the resume.

It’s up to them to win out and hope that things fall into place for a chance at the title, but as we know with every college football Saturday, nothing is guaranteed.