Notre Dame vs. Penn State

In modern times, the independence of Notre Dame football is one of the major points of identity for students, alumni, and fans of the Fighting Irish. What other program could "go it alone," while turning down offers of membership from the Big Ten, and perhaps other conferences? What other program could have its own national television contract? Indeed, the independence of Notre Dame's football program is one of its most appealing aspects. That which makes N.D. reviled by so many seems to make the football program even more endearing to those who love it.

This wasn't always the case, however. Notre Dame for many years longed to join a conference. In the early decades of the twentieth century, the Holy Cross fathers made several abortive attempts at landing membership in the highly-respected "Western Conference," now known as the Big Ten. Their attempts were always thwarted by the academic highbrow communities at Big Ten universities. Rejecting Notre Dame's attempts time and again, Holy Cross administrators had to listen as their teaching methods came under condescending criticism from administrators at other schools.

These difficulties extended to the athletic fields as well. In that era of limited transportation and communication, the Big Ten members began actively choosing not to place Notre Dame on their athletic schedules. This amounted to an attempt to suffocate Notre Dame football and other sports while they were in the cradle. The situation became so grave that in late 1912, the university hired its first truly full-time head football coach, Jess Harper. Harper, who would also coach basketball, track, and baseball at Notre Dame, had extensive connections with the Big Ten, given that he had played football at the University of Chicago for Amos Alonzo Stagg. The hope was that Harper would be able to thaw the freeze-out that the Big Ten had imposed on Notre Dame.

Things did not work out that way, however, and Harper had to shift his focus in a different direction. Instead of limiting Notre Dame to playing in the Midwest against other small schools, in his first season at the helm, Harper took his football squad around the country to play an audacious series of games. That 1913 season featured one of Notre Dame's first landmark victories, when they won at Army, 35-13, as well as an impressive victory at Texas. That season sowed the seeds for the success that Notre Dame would enjoy in the 1920s under Knute Rockne. That season would also sow the seeds for one of N.D.'s great football rivalries. During that season, the boys of Notre Dame traveled for the first time to play the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Notre Dame and Penn State share certain things in common despite their distance from one another and their differences in size and composition. Both schools have tremendous football traditions, and are frequently associated with classic simplicity. Just looking at the teams' uniforms, one can see that the programs exude tradition. Until 1993, when Penn State joined the Big Ten, both schools shared their status as football independents as other independents joined conferences. Historically, Notre Dame and Penn State have fought over many recruits from the talent-rich state of Pennsylvania. Indeed, some of Notre Dame's greatest players, like Johnny Lujack and Joe Montana, came to South Bend from Pennsylvania.

Despite the history between the teams, it has been fourteen years since the Fighting Irish and the Nittany Lions have met on the gridiron. It is a series that has an interesting history, but a rivalry that has been largely overlooked in recent years as the teams have not scheduled one another. Overall, the series stands exactly tied, 8-8-1, with the Irish holding the edge in games played at Notre Dame, 4-3-0. The schools only played a total of four games against one another through 1975. In 1976, the #15 Irish and #20 Lions met in the Gator Bowl, which Notre Dame won, 20-9, generating tremendous interest among the fan bases of both schools. During those days, Penn State coach and athletic director Joe Paterno was looking to shore up the Lions' notoriously weak football schedules. Given that Penn State was one of the dwindling number of major independent football schools, Paterno sought out N.D. athletic director Moose Krause. The two agreed to an ambitious 12-year home-and-home contract to start in 1981.

From 1981 through 1992, the schools played every year, taking part in some of the most remarkable games that fans of either school remember. Lions fans remember fondly #18 PSU knocking off the #1 Irish at home in 1990, the second time that a #1-ranked Notre Dame team lost at home that year. Irish fans, on the other hand, hearken back to the famous "Snow Bowl" game of 1992, when Reggie Brooks pulled in a two-point conversion pass from Rick Mirer with seconds remaining to give N.D. the 17-16 victory, in a frigid, tense, and hard-fought game. The Snow Bowl stands as the most recent chapter in this fascinating series, which will be renewed once again this weekend.

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Other notes:

-The Irish are 14-5-1 (.763) in home openers since the start of the Holtz Era in 1986. The losses came in 1986 to Michigan (24-23), in 1994 to Michigan (26-24), in 1995 to Northwestern (17-15), in 2001 to Michigan State (17-10), and last season to Michigan State (44-41 in OT). The one tie came against Michigan (17-17) in 1992.

-On Saturday, Notre Dame Stadium will open for its 77th season of football, and its tenth season since its expansion. Since opening in October 1930, N.D. Stadium has seen the Irish compile a home record of 292-89-5 (.765). Since the expansion, N.D.'s home record is 39-16 (.709), a record which reflects on the level of coaching talent the Irish have had during most of the post-expansion years.

-This weekend marks the second consecutive week that Notre Dame will play while ranked in the AP top five. The last time that occurred was during the first two games of the 1994 season.

-The Irish are 82-25-1 (.764) at home since the start of the program's last national championship season (1988).

-Saturday marks the first time that the Irish and Lions will play in September. The schools have traditionally played late-season games against one another. Before this year, the earliest that Notre Dame and Penn State played in a season was in 1926, when the schools played on October 16.

-The fourteen-year gap between games in this series is due partly to Penn State joining the Big Ten Conference following the 1992 season. Before that, they, like Notre Dame, were a football independent.

-Notre Dame has won three out of the last five games in this series, dating back to 1988.

-Saturday's game will be the fifth consecutive meeting in the series in which both teams are ranked.

-The Nittany Lions have currently won six consecutive games, dating back to last season.

-Among current Division I-A schools, Notre Dame and Penn State rank #2 and #10 in all-time winning percentage and #2 and #7 in all-time wins, respectively.

-Penn State's mascot, the "Nittany Lion," is a reference to the mountain lions that once roamed Mount Nittany near the campus of Penn State University.

-These teams will meet again next September in State College, PA.

-In the ongoing competition between Michigan and Notre Dame for college football's all-time best winning percentage, here is where things stand after last week:

#14 Michigan defeated unranked Vanderbilt at home, 27-7, moving their record to 850-280-36 for a winning percentage of .7444. This week, #10 Michigan hosts Central Michigan.

#2 Notre Dame defeated unranked Georgia Tech on the road, 14-10, moving their record to 812-266-42 for a winning percentage of .7438. This week, #4 Notre Dame hosts #19 Penn State.

Michigan's lead stands at 68/100,000ths of a point.

The game kicks off at 3:30 EDT on NBC. For those of you on campus, Erin and I will be hosting our first annual tailgater on Saturday morning. We'll be in the tower lot, south of the Joyce Center lots, by mid-morning.

Go Irish! Beat Lions!

Big Mike

copyright Michael D. McAllister 2006