Oklahoma moved up to No. 11 in the Associated Press poll and No. 10 in the coaches poll and now are right in the middle of the national championship picture after a 35-21 road win at Notre Dame Saturday.
The win moved the Sooners to 4-0 on the season and was the Big 12's best victory of the season so far. It was also OU's most-impressive road victory since winning at Florida State in 2011.
Oklahoma is home against TCU Saturday and then will play Texas in Dallas on Oct. 12. The Sooners still have games left against undefeated Texas Tech and Baylor, but their schedule has opened up quite a bit from the beginning of the season.
OU probably can't afford a loss and the Sooners will almost certainly need help to climb into the BCS title games as it's unlikely Oklahoma would pass an undefeated Oregon or Alabama. However, with the win at then-No. 22 Notre Dame, OU will have a boost in schedule strength that could help them pass a team like Louisville, Ohio State or Florida State.
Clemson is ranked No. 3 in the AP poll and still has to play South Carolina. Stanford is No. 5 and still has Oregon on the schedule. One-loss Georgia is No. 6 and undefeated Alabama is No. 1.
OU is No. 10 in the coaches poll.
Follow Andrew Gilman on Twitter: @andrewgilmanOK
