Notre Dame fans couldn't have felt terribly comfortable when Kyle Brindza lined up for a 44-yard field goal with the Irish clinging to a precarious 10-6 lead early in the fourth quarter against Oklahoma on Saturday night. The opening drive of the third quarter ended with Brindza pulling a 35-yarder wide left, leaving that same 10-6 score. This, one week after Brindza missed two field-goal attempts in a narrow 17-14 win over BYU.

But Brindza came up big, going from goat to hero with the big 44-yarder, then a huge 46-yarder late in the fourth quarter to make it a two-possession game at 23-13.

"I told him on the sideline, 'I'm proud of the way you hung in there,'" Irish coach Brian Kelly said. "Some may have hung their head, but he bounced back and came back strong for us."

That said, Kelly made it clear to Brindza that the sophomore needs to be more reliable, as he was when he made 10-of-12 kicks in Weeks 2 through 7, after replacing Nick Tausch.

"I said to him, 'I'm proud of you. But you're shaking my confidence. Don't do it anymore," Kelly said. "And he promised that he
won't."

Notre Dame's victory over Oklahoma on Saturday night pushed the Irish up to No. 3 in the latest BCS standings, the highest the Irish ever have been.

But if the four remaining high-profile unbeatens -- No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Kansas State, No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 4 Oregon -- all finish the season without a loss, the Irish likely will find themselves watching the national championship game and wondering what could have been had the new four-team playoff began this year instead of in 2014.

The Irish are ranked ahead of Oregon by a scant 0.0011 points. But Notre Dame has three weak opponents in a row coming up -- Pittsburgh, Boston College and Wake Forest -- followed by the season-finale at USC, damaged goods after falling to Arizona on Saturday, the Trojans' second loss of the season. Oregon is the consensus No. 2 in the human polls, and still has three quality opponents left -- No. 11 Oregon State, No. 14 Stanford and No. 17 USC, as well as the potential Pac-12 title game -- to try to impress the computers. If Notre Dame and Oregon both win out, the Ducks almost certainly would finish the season ranked higher than the Irish.

The Irish haven't been earning many style points for their grinding, hard-fought victories over the likes of Michigan, Stanford, BYU and even Oklahoma, a game that was tied in the fourth quarter before the Irish pulled away. Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said earlier Sunday that he's not going to go out of his way to put up big numbers in an effort to influence the rankings.

"In an ideal world, yeah, if all of your games were blowouts, that is the way you'd want them to be designed," he said. "But I don't think that there's any actual conversation, or the way we practice or prepare that would get that to be something that we even talk about. So the reality of it is, it's clear that you want to win your games and you want to win them in convincing fashion. But there is nothing that we'll do practically that will emphasize that in any way. It kind of becomes a moot point for us to even discuss it."

Kansas State will be heavy favorites in all of its remaining games, too -- Oklahoma State, at TCU, at Baylor, Texas -- and the Big 12 doesn't have a championship game.

Top-ranked Alabama faces No. 5 LSU this week in a game that could potentially shake up the standings dramatically.

For Notre Dame's sake, Kelly said his team won't be sweating the polls, especially with four weeks left in the season.

"We'll lose if we start listening to national championship and the BCS; we'll lose a football game," he said. "They're a pretty smart group. They know that if they stick with what we've done and stick with the process of preparing for Pittsburgh, they'll be fine. But if they start thinking about all these other things and listening, we'll lose."

Some notes and quotes in the wake of Notre Dame's 30-13 victory at Oklahoma on Saturday night:

Bend, but don't break

The first couple of Oklahoma series were likely horrifying for Notre Dame fans to watch, as Sooners quarterback Landry Jones picked apart the Irish with intermediate passes to wide-open receivers, taking advantage of a big cushion provided by the Irish secondary. 

But Irish coach Brian Kelly said that was defensive coordinator Bob Diaco's plan all along. 

"We structured the game plan to keep the points down," Kelly said. "We were willing to give up yardage in the passing game to keep the points down. We're not, offensively, at a point where we can outscore a team like Oklahoma. I thought Bob Diaco and the defense did a great job with the plan, we stuck with the plan, and it turned out to be a good one."

Indeed, Jones threw for 356 yards, but was kept out of the end zone as the Irish repeatedly bent, but never broke.

Hitting his spots

Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson got an earful from coach Brian Kelly after throwing a ball low and outside to tight end Tyler Eifert in the third quarter on third-and-short, leading to a missed Kyle Brindza field goal. 

"We were talking about individual man-to-man throws," Kelly said. "Tyler Eifert's 6-5, and I wanted the ball positioned up and away from the defender. He tried to lay it down. And he threw it a little later to T.J. (Jones) over a defender who buzzed underneath, T.J. made a big catch, and it was consequently a drive we capitalized on." 

Golson said he got the message.

"Sometimes I've got to let him be 6-5," Golson said. "I can't throw low balls to him."

Go long

Golson's 50-yard strike to Chris Brown following Oklahoma's game-tying fourth-quarter touchdown was the game's biggest play. And it was somewhat surprising given how well the Irish had controlled the clock with long, methodical, ground-based drives. 

Kelly's explanation?

"I wanted to win the game," he said. 

Golson gains perspective

Golson has seen his share of snaps from the sideline this year, with Tommy Rees seeing plenty of action over the course of the season. But the redshirt freshman said sitting out last week's BYU game while recovering from a concussion suffered against Stanford wound up being a blessing in disguise.

"It had a tremendous effect," Golson said. "Just kind of seeing it outside of you actually being out there really helped me, seeing it from the sideline perspective. It made me realize a couple of things we need to work on. That's what I felt we did this week in practice." 

More Heisman talk

Kansas State's Collin Klein is the front-runner for the Heisman Trophy, but Irish linebacker Manti Te'o continues to make his case. He had 11 tackles, a big third-down sack in the first half, and a game-sealing interception of a tipped pass late in the fourth quarter. 

"That's not for me to decide," Kelly said. "I tell you what, he represents all the things that the Heisman Trophy espouses -- integrity and character and a great football player. But I think Manti's more interested in beating Pittsburgh."

NORMAN, Okla. -- It all changes now for Notre Dame. Saturday night's defining 30-13 victory over Oklahoma -- no, at Oklahoma -- speeds everything up. It's no longer about wondering if Everett Golson is ready to handle being the quarterback at Notre Dame, it's about wondering just how good he can be. It's no longer about avoiding the noise, it's about making a lot of it. And it's no longer about going to a BCS bowl game, it's about going to the BCS bowl game -- the national championship game.

 

Golson, Notre Dame's beleaguered redshirt freshman quarterback, coming off a concussion that forced him to sit out last week, took command of the huddle with nine minutes to go in the fourth quarter. The record crowd of 86,031 at Memorial Stadium was shaking down its own thunder after the dormant Sooners offense woke up and tied the game 13-13 on Blake Bell's 1-yard touchdown run -- the first rushing touchdown surrendered by Notre Dame all season. But Golson, a guy who admitted to succumbing to the pressure at home against Michigan, a game in which he was yanked in the second quarter, came into his own on the next drive.

 

His beautiful 50-yard pass to Chris Brown over the top set the Irish up at the Oklahoma 15. And after stalling out in the red zone all day -- heck, all season -- Golson hit Theo Riddick and Tyler Eifert to set up third-and-goal from the 1, then shoved his way into the end zone, shoving Notre Dame into the national championship conversation.

 

It's a shocking development. Shocking because the Irish (8-0) entered the season facing an unbeatable schedule with a presumably beatable secondary and a rookie quarterback. Shocking because the Irish entered this game as 11-point underdogs, nothing more than high-profile fodder for Oklahoma's offensive threshing machine. And shocking because, well, the Irish looked absolutely overmatched early on.

 

Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones (35-of-51, 358 yards) shredded the Irish defense in the first quarter, facing no pressure in the pocket and seemingly no coverage in the defensive backfield. But OU's first two very impressive drives yielded just three points. And when Cierre Wood busted through the middle for a 62-yard touchdown run two snaps after the Sooners' field goal, he gave the Irish more than just a 7-3 lead. He gave them confidence and calmness in the storm of Sooners fans at Memorial Stadium. When the Irish forced two straight punts after that, the crowd quieted, and the Irish slowly took control of the clock, and of the game.

 

The Irish held a tenuous 10-6 lead into the locker room, and came back out with a purpose -- running the ball down the Soooners' throat. They opened the second half by driving 60 yards on 11 plays in nearly seven minutes, but Kyle Brindza pulled a 35-yard field goal wide left, a seemingly crushing blow.

 

But the Irish defense responded by forcing a punt, and the Irish offense responded, too, driving from its own 3-yard line to the Oklahoma 27 for a 44-yard Brindza field goal -- another character-defining drive for Golson, who showed off skills, savvy and toughness. He finished 13-of-25 for 177 passing yards, with 54 rushing yards.

 

And when Oklahoma showed new life by tying it up with 9:10 to go, Golson showed his killer instinct. After the go-ahead score, Manti Te'o -- who else? -- sealed the win with a diving interception of a tipped ball, and ND added a 46-yard Brindza field goal and a 15-yard Riddick TD run, sending the Irish into a three-game stretch of weak opponents, and a potential 11-0 record when they travel to USC for the season finale, a game that -- remarkably -- could have everything on the line.

 

Notre Dame took control of the clock, if not the game, in an impressive, but frustrating third quarter.

The Irish racked up 126 yards on two drives, running the ball right down Oklahoma's throat. But the first Irish drive of the half went 60 yards on 11 plays, only to end in a missed 35-yard field goal attempt by Kyle Brindza. The Irish defense responded by again bending but not breaking, as Landry Jones completed six straight passes, but the drive stalled at the Irish 36.

A punt gave the Irish the ball at their own 3-yard line, and Everett Golson began what could be the defining drive of his young career. A 16-yard run and a 22-yard pass to DaVaris Daniels flipped the field, and the Irish kept marching. Golson took a hard hit from Tony Jefferson on a short run and had to leave the field for third-and-7. But backup Tommy Rees came in and promptly hit Daniels for an 11-yard pass, setting the Irish up with first-and-10 from the Oklahoma 27 to start the fourth quarter.

Once again, Oklahoma passed at will. Once again, Notre Dame escaped with minimal damage.

The Irish took a 10-6 lead into halftime of Saturday's showdown with No. 8 Oklahoma after the Sooners drove 74 yards before settling for a 30-yard field goal. Landry Jones moved up to sixth all-time in passing yards in NCAA history with three more passes of 13 yards or more. With second-and-goal from the 4, Oklahoma brought out big Blake Bell and the "Belldozer" package. Bell ran it in untouched for what appeared to be the first rushing touchdown yielded by Notre Dame all year, but a holding penalty wiped it out.

Another self-inflicted wound -- a third-down dropped pass -- forced the Sooners to kick the field goal.

Previously in the quarter, after the teams traded punts, redshirt freshman quarterback Everett Golson -- looking poised and sharp -- led a nice Notre Dame drive that ended in a 34-yard field goal by Kyle Brindza. Golson had two third-down conversions through the air, and scampered for 9 and 8 yards on a pair of designed quarterback runs. But on third-and-2 from the Oklahoma 17, Golson failed to capitalize on a big running lane right in front of him, and instead scrambled back and threw the ball out of bounds, forcing the Irish to settle for the field goal and a 10-3 lead.

Notre Dame out gained Oklahoma on the ground 106-3, but Jones threw for 194 yards on 18-of-27 passing, compared with Golson's 55 on 5-of-11 passing.

With venerable Memorial Stadium rocking and Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones picking apart the vaunted Notre Dame defense, the Irish appeared poised to fulfill all those predictions that had the eighth-ranked Sooners blowing the fifth-ranked Irish out of Norman, and the national championship picture.

One Cierre Wood run changed that.

Wood broke through the middle for a 62-yard touchdown run and Notre Dame took a 7-3 lead into the second quarter.

Wood's run came after the Irish defense had two bend-but-don't-break series. On the first one, Jones completed four passes in the first 60 seconds, running the no-huddle to perfection and befuddling the Irish defense. But a bad snap while Jones was calling an audible went for a 19-yard loss, and the Sooners had to punt. On the next series, the Sooners again raced down the field, but the Irish defense stiffened in the red zone, and a Louis Nix III tipped pass on third down forced Oklahoma to settle for a 29-yard field goal.

Two plays later, Wood busted loose and gave the Irish the lead, briefly quieting the raucous crowd of 82,000-plus.

Greetings from Oklahoma's Memorial Stadium, where the eighth-ranked Sooners host No. 5 Notre Dame in the Irish's biggest game in years. A win entrenches the Irish in the national title picture and sets the stage for an 11-0 squad to visit USC in a monstrous season finale, assuming the Irish take care of business against Pitt, Boston College and Wake Forest, which they should easily. A loss renders the rest of the regular season largely indifferent, as Notre Dame is all but assured of going to a BCS bowl -- not the title game, though -- whether it's 11-1 or 10-2.

Notre Dame is unbeaten and ranked higher, but the Sooners are 12-point favorites in Vegas, and based on talk radio out here in Oklahoma, the Sooners are expected to blow Notre Dame out of the stadium. So what has to happen for the Irish to pull off the "upset"?

1. ND's defense has to keep the game within reach. The Irish simply don't have the type of offense that's going to be able to put up 30-some points against a defense like Oklahoma's (12th in scoring defense, 15th in total defense). The Irish are second in the nation in scoring defense, as no opponent has scored more than 17 points against them. Notre Dame can win this game 17-14. It can't win this game 31-28. Keeping Landry Jones uncomfortable in the pocket is key.

2. ND must be able to run the ball. Yes, Everett Golson fared well in his only other hostile environment, but Michigan State is no Oklahoma. There's no way of telling how Golson will respond to the hype and pressure (he admitted it got to him at home against Michigan), especially in his first action in two weeks. The Irish offensive line, and Theo Riddick and Cierre Wood (George Atkinson III, as reported first by ESPN.com late last night, is officially inactive with the flu) will have to be able to control the clock and do the heavy lifting for the Irish. Oklahoma is allowing 138 yards per game on the ground, so it's not an impossible task. But it's an absolutely necessary one.

3. ND must convert in the red zone. As tackle Zack Martin said earlier in the week, 10 points in four red-zone trips isn't going to cut it. You can escape BYU with such a performance, but not Oklahoma. That means Golson needs to make the right reads at the line of scrimmage, the tailbacks need to run within the blocking scheme, and the Irish line can't commit any pre-snap penalties. In other words, the Irish have to be more fundamentally sound inside the 20, and punch it in a few times. And when they don't, Kyle Brindza needs to split the uprights, something he's failed to do twice last week. Again, you can escape BYU playing like that. Not Oklahoma.

4. ND must protect the football. This one's always true, but it's especially magnified against a team like Oklahoma. The Sooners are so strong on offense -- averaging 52 points over its last three wins -- that even with a stout defense, the Irish can't afford to give the Sooners short fields to work with.

Of course, none of that is rocket science. It's Notre Dame's formula for success regardless of who the opponent is. But against a team the caliber of Oklahoma -- and one playing as well as Oklahoma is right now -- there simply is no margin for error. At their very best, the Irish can beat Oklahoma. Anything less, though, and all those talk radio hosts and callers might be proven right.

While Notre Dame's offense continues to struggle in the red zone, the Irish defense has no such problems. Notre Dame is second in the nation in red zone defense, allowing just four touchdowns and six field goals in 19 red-zone situations.

So what drives the Irish defense at the end of those long drives? Nose guard Louis Nix III -- the sage of South Bend, the pigskin prophet -- said it's simple: thirst.

"You get sick of being on the field so long," Nix said. "Something tells you, 'Just get off.' You just get tired of it. Get off the field, you're so tired, you're ready to just go and sit on the bench and get some water and these guys are trying to score, and you have to stop them in order to get some water. If you want water, you have to stop them."

Anything else?

"No, you just have to want the water," Nix said. "You want the water that bad, you're going to want to get off the field."

There's only person on the Notre Dame roster, according to Theo Riddick, who has first-hand knowledge of what a game at Oklahoma's Memorial Stadium is like. But Cam McDaniel's experience -- he attended a game there once as a kid -- doesn't really provide a heck of a lot of insight.

But the Irish have an idea what they're in for on Saturday.

"Norman? That's where dreams go to die, I heard," said nose guard Louis Nix III. "We'll see about that."

Remarkably, this is Notre Dame's first true road game in six weeks, since a 20-3 win at Michigan State on Sept. 15. And it's only the Irish's second true road game this season -- Navy was technically the home team in Ireland, and Notre Dame was technically the home team in Chicago against Miami.

"Been six weeks," Riddick said. "We're all excited for this game. We hear the environment is crazy, and it's something we're very much looking forward to."

Some players actually prefer being on the road -- and the natural us-against-the-world mentality it fosters -- than the creature comforts of home.

"I like road games," linebacker Prince Shembo said. "I like when people come and they have stuff to say, everyone's against us. I like that feeling. I think it'll be a great atmosphere."

Shembo said it's not hard to get fired up in a hostile environment.

"I just like seeing middle fingers," he said. "When we're in the bus and you see middle fingers pointed at the bus, it fires you up. I don't like that. Me, personally, I would never flip anybody off. But they're flipping me off, so I take that seriously."

Redshirt freshman quarterback Everett Golson has actually fared better on the road than he has at Notre Dame Stadium. Two of his best games were at Michigan State and at Soldier Field. Tackle Zack Martin said that's not uncommon for players to be at their best on the road.

"It's very exciting to go on the road in a big-time game," he said. "It doesn't really get much better than that. We have guys on this team who played in the biggest college football game ever last year at Michigan. I don't see how it gets much more hostile than that. So everyone on the team is used to playing in situations like that."