Everett Golson was at his best Saturday, even if the stat line didn't necessarily show it. The redshirt freshman was confident and poised, and coach Brian Kelly espoused Golson's leadership during Notre Dame's 30-13 win.
All that added up to Golson becoming just the fifth quarterback to go into Norman and beat a Bob Stoops-coached Oklahoma team. Here's how Golson's performance stacks up against the other four:
2001: Josh Fields (Oklahoma State) -- 1938, 231 yards, 1 INT, 1 TD
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The future White Sox third baseman entered his first Bedlam game in relief of an ineffective Aso Pogi, and his 14-yard touchdown toss to RaShaun Woods sealed a comeback win for Les Miles' 4-7 Cowboys. Fields' stat line may be the most impressive of this bunch, but throwing a game-winning touchdown with 1:36 remaining against the defending national champions may be the biggest play an opposing quarterback has made at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in the Bob Stoops era.
2005: Tye Gunn (TCU): 2445, 226 yards, 1 INT, 1 TD
TCU won this game on the strength of its defense, holding Adrian Peterson to 63 yards on 22 carries. Gunn blew a chance to put the game away when his pass was picked off at the Oklahoma 30 midway through the fourth, but the Horned Frogs' defense locked down again to seal a win.
2011: Seth Doege (Texas Tech): 3352, 441 yards, 4 TD, 0 INT
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Doege accounted for Tech's first four tochdowns -- three passing, one rushing -- that put the Red Raiders up 31-7 early in the third quarter over the undefeated and No. 3-ranked Sooners. From there, Tech held on as Landry Jones threw four touchdowns in a vicious comeback over the final 30 minutes that wound up falling three points short. Doege stands as the only quarterback to go into Norman and win a high-scoring affair, one that wasn't won on the backs of the opponent defense.
2012: Collin Klein (Kansas State): 1321, 149 yards, 0 INT, 17 carries, 79 yards, 1 TD
Klein was contained for the first 45 minutes of this September contest, but a five-yard touchdown run early in the fourth put K-State ahead, and the current Heisman Trophy frontrunner engineered another scoring drive midway through the fourth to put the Wildcats ahead by 11. Klein didn't turn the ball over, though, helping keep K-State in the contest as its offense struggled to get off the ground in the first three quarters.
2012: Everett Golson (Notre Dame): 1325, 177 yards, 0 INT 11 carries, 64 yards, 1 TD
As was the case against Michigan State, Golson didn't turn the ball over despite his inexperience and a record crowd of 86,031 at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. His 50-yard completion to Chris Brown was the best pass he's thrown all year, and it set up the go-ahead touchdown -- which he scored -- after Oklahoma tied things up in the fourth quarter.
"He led -- he actually sensed that he was leading," coach Brian Kelly said. "He was communicating, he was talking, he was doing things that you hope as you go through this process that start to see. He was confident, he was calm -- all the things that you need to see from your quarterback on the road against a very good opposition in Oklahoma."