Notre Dame football: Biggest underdog matchups in the Brian Kelly era

2012: Oklahoma (-11) 13 vs. Notre Dame football 30

It’s worth remembering that Notre Dame, or any team for that matter, is capable of winning games that they enter as two-score underdogs, just look at their 2012 trip to Oklahoma. The Sooners started as a nine-point favorite, but so many betters thought that Oklahoma would win by more than nine that they closed as eleven-point favorites.

Notre Dame beat them by 17 points.

There was some basis for Notre Dame being big underdogs here. This game was midway through the 2012 season and a lot of people were expecting Notre Dame to eventually turn into the same old Notre Dame that struggled to win nine games in recent memory. Oklahoma was also ranked eighth in the country and had won their last three games by a combined score of 156-48.

For much of the game, this was a close, defensive struggle. Stylistically, this favored Notre Dame, as the Sooners preferred to build up big leads quickly and make opponents play catch up. At the half, Notre Dame led 10-6, with a Cierre Wood touchdown run for 62 yards being the difference in the half.

No one scored in the third quarter, and Oklahoma managed to put up the first rushing touchdown on Notre Dame that anyone had scored all season long. Luckily, Notre Dame put up 20 of their own fourth-quarter points, largely on the back of Everett Golson, who had a rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter.

This win would signify that Notre Dame was a legitimate threat in 2012, forcing the country to start taking them more seriously, and they did so as a major underdog.