Notre Dame Shows Its True Colors — Just Like We Predicted

Notre Dame fell a game short of winning the National Championship last year. Still, expectations were high for the Irish this season despite losing defensive coordinator Al Golden to the Cincinnati Bengals, starting quarterback Riley Leonard, and defensive stars Benjamin Morrison, Xavier Watts, Rylie Mills, and Jack Kiser in the NFL Draft.

But things didn't start well for the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame lost its season opener to Miami (FL) and then lost its home opener to Texas A&M two weeks later. Pundits and fans were ready to ride the Fighting Irish off for good after starting the season 0-2, but all Notre Dame has done is win four straight games after blowing out North Carolina State 36-7 on Saturday.

So, maybe Notre Dame is exactly "who we thought they were" after all. Notre Dame opened the year as a top 10 team, and they've played like it over the last four weeks.

And despite losing Leonard to the NFL, the Notre Dame offense is starting to look like one of the best in college football. Freshman quarterback CJ Carr looks like a future NFL first-round pick, and Jeremiah Love is finally getting the appropriate amount of touches he deserves after only touching the ball 14 times back in Week 1.

But what seems to go unnoticed is how good Miami and Texas A&M actually are. Both teams still have yet to lose a game, and the Hurricanes will probably remain ranked No. 2 in the nation behind the defending national champs, despite not playing this week. And the Aggies should remain the No. 5 team in the country at the very least after beating Florida; however, Texas A&M could move up to No. 4 in the polls after Oregon lost to Indiana on Saturday.

So, maybe some of the criticism Notre Dame received back in September was unfair after all.

I'm still not entirely sold on first-year defensive coordinator Chris Ash, but the Irish defense seems to have turned the corner after allowing 13 points or less in three straight games, after holding the Wolfpack to just a touchdown.

We'll know whether or not Notre Dame is for real or not after next week's game against USC, but for now, the Irish deserve to be considered a legit college football playoff team.