Notre Dame is back.

There’s simply no arguing with the fact that the Fighting Irish, who are 6-0, are in the national championship picture.

For those who loved the movie “Rudy,” and get chills every time they hear the Notre Dame fight song, this is welcome news after 18 seasons of mostly mediocre football. In his third season as coach, Brian Kelly is rapidly becoming an icon at the school.

Long forgotten is his decision two autumns ago to practice outdoors in gale-force winds two days after an embarrassing loss to Navy, a decision that led to team manager Declan Sullivan being on a photo tower when a gust of wind blew the tower down and killed him. Also apparently forgotten is school President John Jenkins’s refusal to meet with the family of a young woman who committed suicide shortly after filing a sexual assault complaint against a Notre Dame football player.

Father Jenkins refused to meet with the family because his lawyer advised him not to do so. Apparently comforting the afflicted only applies at Notre Dame upon the advice of counsel.

Now, it is as if those awful moments never happened. It is all good at Notre Dame right now. The Irish, led by a superb defense that includes, arguably, the best player in the country — senior linebacker Manti Te’o — have beaten more “name,” teams than anyone ranked in the top 10. The fact that Michigan, Michigan State and Miami have turned out to be duds isn’t Notre Dame’s fault. When they were scheduled, they looked like tough outs. Notre Dame gave up a total of 12 points to the three of them.

The defense was just as good on Saturday in a thrilling, though controversial, 20-13 overtime win over Stanford. Once again, it didn’t surrender a touchdown in regulation. The Cardinal’s only touchdown came when quarterback Everett Golson fumbled in the end zone in the second quarter and Stanford recovered.

Whether Stanford scored a touchdown in overtime is, at the very least, open to debate. After the Irish scored to take a 20-13 lead, Stanford had first-and-goal at the Notre Dame 4-yard-line. Four times running back Stepfan Taylor tried to get into the end zone and four times — according to the officials — he came up short.

Exactly why Stanford didn’t change-up the play-calling against a defense that has given up three touchdowns in six games is a legitimate question to raise.

That said, it appeared to most people that Taylor scored on second effort on the fourth-down play. The officials on the field ruled that he didn’t score, and replay officials upheld the call even though it looked as if Taylor’s forward progress was never completely stopped before he spun and dove into the end zone.

And so everyone at Notre Dame is all smiles right now. The Irish have two tough games left on their schedule: at Oklahoma in two weeks and at Southern California to close out the season.

The other four games are virtual walkovers for a good team: Brigham Young, Boston College, Pittsburgh and Wake Forest. The latter three, who have combined to win three games this season against FBS opponents, will give the Irish a taste of what they can expect when they start playing five ACC opponents a couple of years from now. It will, no doubt, be a very sweet taste.