SOUTH BEND, Ind. — On the kind of cold, rainy day they like to describe as "football weather" in this part of the country, freshman linebacker Manti Te'o, the kid from Hawai'i, warmed to the challenge of Notre Dame football.

In the longest and most thorough performance of his five-game college career, Te'o was in on 10 tackles — second most in the game — to help the Fighting Irish hold off Washington, 37-30, in an overtime chilled-to-the-bone thriller.

And when it was over as the band played and the remnants of a sellout crowd of 80,795 cheered, quarterback Jimmy Clausen gave the Punahou School graduate a hug and words of affirmation. "I just told him, 'that was a great job today' and that's why he came to Notre Dame, to play in big games like this."

Said Clausen: "He's going to be really special in the upcoming years."

Of course, Te'o's coaches and teammates told him he wasn't bad yesterday, either.

"I'm really proud of him," said safety Kyle McCarthy. "He grew up right in front of all of us. Every time I turned around he was getting up from the bottom of the pile. He's growing up fast and we're excited about it."

Heretofore the coaches were selective in what situations they employed Te'o and used him sparingly. Initially he played mostly in nickel situations and, occasionally, the base defense. But yesterday the plan was to use Te'o for most everything as long as he showed he could handle it.

"We talked (this week) about how Manti was going to play a whole bunch more and, as the week went on, (defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta) felt more comfortable with him in there in both base and nickel (packages)," head coach Charlie Weis said. "I don't know how many plays he played (70 of Washington's 79 offensive plays), but it certainly seemed like he was out there a lot."

Especially to Washington, whose coach, Steve Sarkisian had tried to recruit Te'o a year ago.

"He's a guy that is obviously a physical kid and he's got a bright future," Sarkisian said.

Perhaps no longer can Te'o call himself a freshman, suggested fellow linebacker Brian Smith.

"He's gotten his feet wet and grown up a lot. I told him, he can't act like a freshman anymore because the team needs him to act like an upperclassman — and he did."

Said Weis, "I think that it is going to be a steady climb for Manti."