1-0 in October

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is undefeated in the month of October. That's right people one and zero. Unfortunately they went 0-5 in the month of September. So what does this one win mean to an Irish team that is now 1-5? It means that they now have to win 5 out of their next six games to go to a bowl game with two of the teams in the top ten including a one loss USC team and a game with a Boston College team that is ranked four in the country next weekend. Along with the two obvious powers there is also a game at Stanford who gave USC their first loss of the season last weekend. It is far from likely but ND just might have sparked a little faith in ND nation for a bowl birth.

They beat a quarterback desolated UCLA team that committed seven turnovers to ND's zero. You can pin this victory to an absolutely extraordinary performance by ND's defensive side of the ball. I don't care if the Bruins had their walk-on third stringer at quarterback a good team will not let one player commit seven turnovers, it was an aggressive defensive scheme that proved to do in the whole UCLA offense. I am not going to say that lack of motivation was the reason UCLA fell either; especially after a last second loss last year left the Bruins with their jaws wide open in disbelief of a Brady Quinn to Jeff Samardzija show stopper. The Notre Dame offense did what it should when a defense is playing as good as it was, they didn't make mistakes. They played a mistake free game that proved to not light up their side of the scoreboard, but UCLA's side didn't light up either. When the ND offense was set up by the defense they came through, like I said, mistake free football.

Young teams get better as the season goes on and that is just what this Notre Dame team is. They lost eight starters on offense while an already struggling defense lost seven starters. The youth movement at Notre Dame is in full swing and, personally, I think the worst is all but over, save for the next two weeks. Young talent is starting to show they get it including solid performances from running back James Aldridge, wide receivers Golden Tate and Duval Kamara, defensive back Darrin Walls, and a steadily improving quarterback in Jimmy Clausen. If they can pull out a bowl birth with how this season started you can count on next year being a big year for the Irish. As for the bowl birth, I wouldn't count on it. But, hey, they are the Irish right, maybe they can catch a few lucky breaks.