Hurricane to take on Irish Saturday

It is undoubtedly, one of the biggest games of the season for the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane. On Saturday the Hurricane will face off head-to-head with one of the most storied programs in all of college football. Tulsa will play in front of over 80,000 people and a nationally televised audience as they take on Notre Dame on Knute Rockne and the four horsemen's old stomping grounds.

The Hurricane enters the 1:30 p.m. contest fresh off of a bye week after running for 332 yards in a 52-24 homecoming win over Tulane on October 16. Four different players scored touchdowns, including Damaris Johnson, Alex Singleton and Charles Clay who had two each. Tulsa put up a total of 538 yards of offense while running their record to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in Conference USA play.

The upcoming game with the Irish (4-4) is a chance for the Hurricane to build momentum and move one step closer to becoming bowl eligible, not to mention a chance to defeat the only remaining BCS school on their 2010 schedule. Tulsa's only other match up with a BCS opponent produced a 65-28 loss on September 18 at Oklahoma State.

On the flip side, the game is just as important for the Irish, who are looking to bounce back after suffering a 35-17 loss to Navy last week, snapping a three-game winning streak. Notre Dame is clearly in the middle of a rebuilding season  after they lost their final four games of the 2009 season resulting in the firing of then head coach Charlie Weis. Brian Kelly was hired as his replacement and has produced wins against Purdue, Boston College, Pittsburgh and Western Michigan. Two more wins and the Irish will be bowl eligible also.

"We've talked about what a win like this would mean," said TU head coach Todd Graham. "We need to take the next step, which is to beat a BCS opponent. To beat one that has the reputation that they have, it would be the biggest of my tenure here," he said.

Tulsa at Notre Dame- 1:30 p.m. Saturday on NBC (KJRH Channel 2)