Notre Dame Football: 3-Game Winning Streak Doesn't Offset Early Losses

Notre Dame, college football's ultimate pseudo-powerhouse has been impressive the last three weeks, but they haven't done enough yet to offset their early losses.

The Fighting Irish improved to 3-2 on Saturday by beating down lowly Purdue 38-3. Their offense was in harmony all day, with a solid mix of Cierre Wood rushes and Tommy Rees passes.

Wood was dominant, running for 192 yards and a touchdown on only 19 carries. Rees was also very impressive, completing 24-of-39 passes for 262 yards and three scores.

This is the Irish's third win in a row, coming on the heels of a 15-12 win at Pittsburgh and a demonstrative 31-13 victory over then-15th ranked Michigan State.

Unfortunately for Brian Kelly's crew, they will need about six more wins to make up for their back to back season opening losses. Fair or not, those two performances will haunt Notre Dame all season unless they win out the rest of the way.

This won't be easy as they still have to face the enigmatic USC Trojans later this month and they close their season at No. 6 Stanford.

If the Irish want to play in a quality bowl game this year—I'm assuming they do—then they will need to win both those games, preferably in convincing fashion.

The demands to fire Kelly have quieted some, but they will erupt again if Notre Dame loses again this season.

After an undisciplined performance at home in the season opener they were outgunned by bitter rival Michigan. To Notre Dame die-hards and pollsters alike, those are two unforgivable losses.

Unless, of course, the Irish continue their recent run of success. I hope for Brian Kelly's sake that they do, because he's gone if not.