Notre Dame Football: Why the Irish Are Better off Unranked and Under the Radar

Notre Dame has been and always will be its own animal. No one moves the needle quite like the Fighting Irish, and their 0-2 start, enhanced by Brian Kelly turning a color that even Crayola hasn't created, only added to the scrutiny in South Bend.

With a four-game winning streak and an offense that is now starting to resemble what Kelly had at Cincinnati, the pressure has cooled a bit, and Notre Dame remains in contention for a BCS bowl bid.  Notre Dame is far from irrelevant, but without a number next to their name for at least another week, they remain off the main stage.

Kelly's sideline demeanor has cooled, as evident in the Pittsburgh game which took quarterback Tommy Rees over three quarters to figure out the Dick LeBeau-esque pressure the Panthers were throwing at him. The team no longer looks like the weight of the world is on its shoulders, especially the defense, which has been rock solid since the fourth quarter debacle in Ann Arbor.

In the past two games, the Irish looked like they were having fun for the first time since very early in Charlie Weis' tenure. The offense is working, the defense isn't getting picked apart, and the games have not been decided before halftime. Sure, it's been Purdue and Air Force, but as recently as 2007 those teams were beating the Irish by double digits.

Notre Dame has played its best football while eyeballs have been focused elsewhere, but that's about to come to an end.

USC will visit Notre Dame Stadium next Saturday night in the first night game in South Bend since 1990. In a week where major national games are lacking, the best inter-sectional rivalry in college football will be squarely on the center of the map.

Should Irish fans be concerned? Will the turnover problems that led to the two early losses rear their ugly heads again? Or has this team finally turned the corner and will roll into the Stanford game at 9-2?

The truth is, it's hard to imagine a team that couldn't get out of its own way in the first two games could play with enough consistency to win nine straight games. 

The USC game will be looked at as a game that if Notre Dame loses, the season is basically over. It will pretty much ensure the Irish will play in the Champs Sports Bowl, leaving the team with little to play for over the last five games.

So, if you weren't already aware, the USC game is big. Really big. 

Will the team exhibit the tightness it showed in the first two weeks that doomed them? We, as well as college football fans all over the country, will be watching.