Notre Dame wins game with Stanford

Notre Dame's victory over Stanford 20 to 13 was a game for the ages and the sense that the Irish are a team of destiny this year continues.

 It looked a sure-fire second period of extra time when Stanford had the ball at the one yard line in overtime with four efforts to get it across. Somehow this Notre Dame defense held which would never have happened in previous years.

 They won despite another stuttering start by Everett Golson who held on to the ball far too often, most notoriously in his own end zone when he fumbled and gave away a touchdown.

Asked afterwards if Notre Dame were a team of destiny this year Coach Brian Kelly hesitated a moment, perhaps believing in his heart of hearts that they are but being afraid to say so publicly.

6-0 with a miraculous victory against Stanford means that the grotto prayers are really paying off this year when it comes to miracles.

This was the most impressive victory of all because fit was achieved in adversity, when they fell behind and looked beaten, especially on offense for large parts of the game. But unlike Kelly's first two years this team finds a way to win, not lose and they did so again.

They could well crack the top 4 in the BCS bowl rankings on Sunday something that was far from most expert's minds at the beginning of the year. Back then the fear was that the secondary was too inexperienced and the defense would ship too many points. Just how wrong can the experts be?