Notre Dame Gets Hooked on the 'Horns

Anyone who thought that Charlie Strong was under intense pressure to keep his job at the start of this season is totally wrong.

Dude's been in that position from the moment he signed his contract.

It wasn't the most popular hire, especially in the wake of swirling rumors that the Longhorns had landed Nick Saban.

And Strong definitely ruffled feathers by being openly realistic about the rebuilding job ahead, even though Texas has the nation's richest athletic department.

Last season, it didn't look to the Burnt Orange like a turnaround was gonna happen anytime soon after the 'Horns wandered into an ambush up in South Bend and got pasted, 38-3.

But Strong held firm. Maybe, somewhere in his past, he got the same advice Matthew McConaughey did in U-571

What Strong knew was how to recruit.

Dude got a shifty slinger in Shane Buechele along with signing bigsters and speedsters, because it's Texas, dammit!

With his sort of players buying in to his sort of culture, it seems that this may be a Texas Longhorns sort of season.

And the first order of business was to remind his charges what it felt like to leave the Golden Domes:

Well, after last night DeepInTheHearta, who's the Big Dog now?

This triumph doesn't mean the 'Horns are back in the playoff conversation; it's only one game, after all.

But they're back in the Big XII conversation as a club that will compete, and it's a huge step to be humming a different tune.

All Strong has to do now is get the fans to buy in for an entire season.