Only four quarterbacks have ever led their team into Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and won since Bob Stoops took as Oklahoma's head coach in 1999. If Everett Golson is to become the fifth, he'll have to do something plenty of other signal-callers haven't been able to do: Play composed in the face of one of college football's most charged atmospheres.
Golson's already quarterbacked a win on the road, with that coming Sept. 15 at Michigan State. While that's game was Notre Dame's only true road test of the season, coach Brian Kelly thinks his first-year starter can handle everything at Oklahoma.
"It's bits and pieces throughout the year, at Michigan State in a very hostile environment, and then in big-game situations where we're playing on the road in Chicago. It's just a cumulative effect," Kelly explained. "In other words, all the pieces that come together for him to make him a better quarterback than he was earlier in the year is his experience, and we think he'll build on that and should not have any problem playing in a big environment at Oklahoma because he's already done it."
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Chicago sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Kelly said Saturday he expects Golson to be 100 percent for Notre Dame-Oklahoma, but clarified Sunday that Golson has one more test to pass. On Monday, Notre Dame will have Golson go at his full physical exertion to make sure he's good to go from a cardio standpoint.
"I just want to make sure that we've covered everything, so in talking to our doctors we're going to put him through a good physical exertion tomorrow," Kelly said. "And we expect that to go well. If it goes well, it's just full steam ahead Oklahoma."