After growing up rooting for Notre Dame, fifth-year center Braxton Cave is happy to have finally accomplished the goal he set when he joined the Fighting Irish in 2008, JJ Stankevitz of CSN Chicago reported.

Notre Dame went 7-6 in Cave's freshman season and 6-6 in 2009, after which Charlie Weis was fired as head coach.

Under current coach Brian Kelly, the Fighting Irish recorded back-to-back eight-win seasons in 2010 and 2011. But this season the No. 3 Fighting Irish are 10-0 and have a legitimate shot to reach the national championship game. Kansas State and Oregon are the two teams ranked ahead of the Irish in the BCS standings.

"My goal coming here was to get things back to the glory days and the way they're supposed to be," Cave told Stankevitz. "I feel like we've done a good job of finally doing that."

Notre Dame plays Wake Forest on Nov. 17 at home before traveling to play No. 18 USC on Nov. 24.