Notre Dame vs. UCLA

As the 2007 season has unfolded for the Notre Dame football squad, it becomes apparent just how reliant the team was upon its players who graduated after last season. The headliner from this group was, of course, Brady Quinn, who left Notre Dame in possession of most school records for the QB position. With discussions about scheduling, recruiting and depth issues set aside, something else the team has lacked this year is a consistent presence to guide the offense, such as Quinn was during the 2005 and 2006 seasons.

No game demonstrated Quinn's resilience better than the 2006 contest against UCLA. Similar to this year, the Irish came into that game after a rough stretch of games. A defensive battle ensued, as UCLA successfully contained Notre Dame's offense for most of the game. Still, Quinn fought through the defensive pressure, completing 27 passes for over 300 yards. That game always will be remembered for the late-game heroics engineering by Quinn and WR Jeff Samardzija. Trailing 17-13, the Irish had gone three-and-out with 2:25 remaining in the game. The situation looked bleak for Notre Dame, but still, the Irish defense responded by holding UCLA to three-and-out, giving the Irish offense one last chance.

With 1:02 remaining and the ball on the Irish 20, Quinn moved quickly, getting the ball to Samardzija for 21 yards and WR David Grimes for another 14 yards out to the UCLA 45. Then, Quinn hit Samardzija on one of the most famous plays in recent Notre Dame history. Samardzija streaked down the right side of the field, evading UCLA defenders along the way, reaching the endzone. Quinn and the offense had given the Irish program its first game-winning touchdown in the final minute of a game since Penn State in 1992. In winning 20-17, the Irish moved to 7-1, edging closer to a berth in the BCS.

Despite the schools' proud football traditions, Notre Dame and UCLA have met a surprisingly infrequent number of times on the gridiron. The series dates back to 1963, when the Bruins traveled to South Bend during a disastrous 2-7 Notre Dame campaign. For Notre Dame, UCLA was one of two teams they were able to beat that year, Southern Cal being the other. In the following season, UCLA returned to South Bend again. Once again, the Irish, now led by coaching immortal Ara Parseghian, defeated the Bruins, 24-0. After that game, these schools would not meet again until last season. The 42-year break between games was one of the longest in the history of the Notre Dame program. Overall, the Irish hold a 3-0-0 record in this series.

On an interesting side note, Saturday will mark the first time that Notre Dame returns to the Rose Bowl since January 1, 1925. That day, the undefeated Notre Damers traveled to Pasadena to play the Stanford Indians. In a game that featured Notre Dame’s famed "Four Horseman" backfield and Stanford's legendary Ernie Nevers, as well as coaching luminaries Knute Rockne and Glenn "Pop" Warner, Notre Dame rolled to a 27-10 victory. It was the program's sole bowl appearance until the Cotton Bowl following the 1969 season.

/ / / / / / / / / / /

Other notes:

-The Irish have never started a season 0-6. A loss this week would tie the school record for consecutive losses (8), which was set in 1960.

-The Irish are 19-11 (.633) under Charlie Weis, and 8-4 (.667) on the road during the Weis Era.

-Notre Dame last lost five consecutive road games between 1998 and 2000 (losses at Southern Cal, Michigan, Purdue, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Stanford, and Michigan State). That streak reached seven straight road losses before the Irish finally prevailed at West Virginia in October 2000, 42-28.

-UCLA (1954) is the fifth opponent the Irish will play this season that has won at least one national championship. Among Notre Dame's first eight opponents, the only ones without at least one national title are Purdue and Boston College.

-Notre Dame is 29-24-5 (.543) against Pac-10 teams on the road. They have never played a road game against UCLA.

-These schools are not scheduled to meet again.

-An update on Notre Dame-Michigan: I will continue (tentatively) to include updates on the competition for all-time best winning percentage, but Michigan is definitely pulling away. Depending on how bad things get this year, I may suspend updates on this until a future time when it's actually a competition again. For now, here's where things stand:

Michigan squeaked by at unranked Northwestern, 28-16, moving their record to 863-284-36 for a winning percentage of .7447. This week, Michigan hosts the fearsome Eastern Michigan Eagles.

Notre Dame lost its seventh consecutive game, this time at Purdue, 33-19, dropping their record to 821-274-42 for an all-time winning percentage of .7406. This represents Notre Dame's lowest winning percentage since the week following the program's landmark win over Michigan in November 1909. This week, Notre Dame travels to UCLA.

Michigan's lead has expanded to five games.

This week's game kicks off on ABC at 5:00 P.D.T.

Go Irish! Beat Bruins!

Big Mike

copyright Michael D. McAllister 2007