In modern times bowl games featuring teams from opposite ends of the country are not unusual. Air travel makes getting from one end of the nation to the other relatively easy, so much so that the Rose Bowl, for example, has had a long-standing tradition of matching the Big Ten and Pac-10 champions at the end of each football season. In the early days of the Rose Bowl, however, cross-sectional match-ups of teams were rare, and made the annual game an exciting and much-anticipated yearly event.
Few games in the early days of the Rose Bowl generated as much buzz as the January 1, 1925 game pitting Glenn "Pop" Warner's Stanford Indians against Knute Rockne's Notre Dame Ramblers. Rockne's squad featured the heralded "Four Horsemen" backfield of Jim Crowley, Elmer Layden, Don Miller, and Harry Stuhldreher, while Stanford was led by star QB Ernie Nevers. Although the game was anticipated for the potential offensive fireworks, the game will best be remembered for two defensive plays. Elmer Layden, who also played as a defensive back in those days before specialized players, returned interceptions of 80 and 70 yards for touchdowns. These plays sparked Notre Dame to victory over Stanford, 27-10. It was Notre Dame's only bowl game appearance until 1970.
Despite the ancient beginnings of this series, Notre Dame and Stanford have not been frequent opponents until recent times. Before 1988, when the current series began, the schools had played only four games (1924, 1942, 1963, and 1964) in which the Irish compiled a 3-1-0 record. Since 1988 the schools have played one another every season, with the exception of 1995 & 1996, when Stanford left N.D.'s schedule to make room for a home-and-home series against Washington. Notre Dame leads the series, 15-6-0.
Much like Notre Dame's series with Purdue, the games that stand out in the Stanford series tend to be Cardinal victories, primarily because Notre Dame traditionally has owned the series. In 1990, "Touchdown" Tommy Vardell scored four touchdowns (all from one yard out) to lead the Cardinal to a 36-31 victory over the #1-ranked Irish at home, N.D.'s first home loss since 1986. That game would start a disturbing trend of higher-ranked Lou Holtz-coached Irish squads losing to inferior competition, particularly at home. In 1992, the #7 Irish were still in the thick of national title contention when they took a 16-0 lead over Stanford. The Cardinal, led by head coach Bill Walsh, stormed back to score 33 unanswered points, stealing victory at Notre Dame.
In the last series game played at Stanford (in 2005), the Irish executed a flawless two-minute drill to score the go-ahead points in the final minute, winning in the last game at old Stanford Stadium, 38-31. Last season, the Irish handled the Cardinal with ease at Notre Dame, winning 31-10.
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Other notes:
-The Irish last won fewer than five games in a season in 1963. They finished 2-7 that year.
-Saturday's game against Stanford will be the final of three games pitting the Irish against Pacific-10 teams this season. On October 6, the Irish tallied one of their two wins on the season to this point, winning at UCLA, 20-6. Two weeks later, Southern Cal traveled to South Bend and won by a record margin for a Trojan squad against the Irish, 38-0.
-The Irish have won five consecutive games against Stanford. The Cardinal's last series win came during Thanksgiving weekend in 2001. Interestingly, the five-game Irish winning streak is the longest such streak by either team in the series.
-Notre Dame is 5-4-0 in series games played at Stanford, dating back to 1963. The Irish have won five consecutive home games against the Cardinal, and two in a row at Stanford. Notre Dame's last loss at Stanford was in 2001.
-The Bay Area Notre Dame Alumni Club will present the winner of this game with The Legends Trophy, a combination of Irish crystal and California redwood. The trophy was presented for the first time at the 1989 game, a 27-17 Irish victory.
-These schools are scheduled to continue meeting through 2010.
The Irish look to continue building on the momentum from last week’s win as they bring this forgettable season to an end. The game kicks off at 12:30 P.S.T. on ESPN.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Go Irish! Beat Cardinal!
Big Mike
copyright Michael D. McAllister 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Notre Dame vs. Duke
A first-time head coach in his third season at Notre Dame coming off respectable performances in his first two years on the Irish sidelines.
A third season on the sidelines featuring record-setting loss after record-setting loss.
A seemingly talented Irish squad setting the school record for losses in a season.
Each of these statements describes the situation of the 2007 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Each of these statements also describes the situation that faced the 1956 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. While Charlie Weis's Irish have found new and creative ways to lose to greatly overmatched opponents in the past two weeks, the same could be said for Terry Brennan's Irish in 1956. What more could be said about Brennan's team, who lost not one, but two games by margins of 40 points?
Brennan was a star player for Frank Leahy's post-World War II juggernaut, helping the Irish to win national titles in 1946 and 1947. After graduating from Notre Dame in 1949, he became head coach of Chicago's Mount Carmel High School. After a very successful stint with Mount Carmel, which included three consecutive city championships, Brennan returned to Notre Dame in 1953 to serve as coach of Leahy's freshman squad.
After leading the Irish an undefeated campaign in 1953, his sixth in eleven seasons at Notre Dame, Leahy retired from coaching at the tender age of 46. (Whether Leahy left willingly or was forced out by university president Theodore Hesburgh is a matter for another email.) With Leahy out of the picture, Hesburgh and university executive vice president Edmund Joyce named the 25-year-old Brennan as the new head coach. The alarmed reaction of Irish fans at the naming of such an untested coach was muted when Brennan started 9-1 in 1954 and following that with an 8-2 showing in his sophomore campaign in 1955.
The wheels came off for Brennan's Irish in 1956, however. At that point, the Irish had played 68 seasons of college football and had never lost more than five games in a single season. Prior to 1956, Heartley "Hunk" Anderson's 1933 squad (3-5-1) held the distinction as the worst in modern times. Brennan's 1956 squad set new records for futility, tallying a horrid 2-8 record, including a school-record 40-0 loss to Michigan State at home, as well as a 48-8 loss at Iowa. For a program that seven years before had capped a stretch of four consecutive undefeated seasons, such a record must have seemed unimaginable.
Doubts about Brennan resurfaced, but were somewhat assuaged in 1957 when the Irish rebounded with a 7-3 record, including a 7-0 win at Oklahoma that ended the Sooners' 47-game winning streak (still an NCAA record). In 1958, Brennan's Irish seemed ready to build on the momentum of the previous season, but it was not meant to be. Notre Dame struggled to a 6-4 record. Following that season, Brennan was unceremoniously shown the door on Christmas Eve.
The writing on the wall for how the 1958 season would play out could have been seen in that year's fourth game. Following a 14-2 loss to an Army squad that finished with an 8-0-1 record, Brennan's Irish hosted the mediocre Duke Blue Devils. Despite considerably more talent and the home-field advantage, the Irish struggled mightily against the Devils, managing to squeak out a 9-7 win. That 1958 contest between the Irish and Devils was the first on the gridiron between the schools. Since then, the teams have met twice more. The Irish capped a forgettable 1961 campaign by losing at Duke, 37-13. In 1966, the Irish exacted revenge and then some; en route to that season's national championship, the Irish throttled the Devils, 64-0 at Notre Dame, in one of the most lopsided wins in school history. Overall, the Irish lead the all-time series against Duke, 2-1-0.
Saturday's contest will mark the final home game for the class of 2008. This class has dealt with much adversity, and will forever be remembered as the class that saw the Navy streak come to an end. For the seven members of the class of 2008, here's to hoping that the Irish can finally win a game at home.
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
-The Irish have never started a season 1-10. The Irish have also never gone winless at home.
-Since the start of the Holtz Era in 1986, the Irish are 15-6 (.714) in home finales.
-The Irish are 2-0 in home finales under Charlie Weis.
-It has been 41 years since the Irish and Devils last met on the gridiron. The Irish have taken breaks longer than 41 years between games in only eight other series: Rutgers (75 years, 1921-96); Baylor (73 years, 1925-98); Kansas (61 years, 1938-99); Ohio State (59 years, 1936-1995); Rice (58 years, 1915-73); Penn State (48 years, 1928-76); Washington (46 years, 1949-95); and UCLA (42 years, 1964-2006).
-These schools are not scheduled to meet again.
-An update on the all-time wins list:
(1) Michigan, 848
(2) Notre Dame, 822
(3) Texas, 820
In a word, infuriating.
The game kicks off on NBC at 2:30 E.S.T.
Go Irish! Beat Devils!
Big Mike
copyright Michael D. McAllister 2007
A third season on the sidelines featuring record-setting loss after record-setting loss.
A seemingly talented Irish squad setting the school record for losses in a season.
Each of these statements describes the situation of the 2007 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Each of these statements also describes the situation that faced the 1956 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. While Charlie Weis's Irish have found new and creative ways to lose to greatly overmatched opponents in the past two weeks, the same could be said for Terry Brennan's Irish in 1956. What more could be said about Brennan's team, who lost not one, but two games by margins of 40 points?
Brennan was a star player for Frank Leahy's post-World War II juggernaut, helping the Irish to win national titles in 1946 and 1947. After graduating from Notre Dame in 1949, he became head coach of Chicago's Mount Carmel High School. After a very successful stint with Mount Carmel, which included three consecutive city championships, Brennan returned to Notre Dame in 1953 to serve as coach of Leahy's freshman squad.
After leading the Irish an undefeated campaign in 1953, his sixth in eleven seasons at Notre Dame, Leahy retired from coaching at the tender age of 46. (Whether Leahy left willingly or was forced out by university president Theodore Hesburgh is a matter for another email.) With Leahy out of the picture, Hesburgh and university executive vice president Edmund Joyce named the 25-year-old Brennan as the new head coach. The alarmed reaction of Irish fans at the naming of such an untested coach was muted when Brennan started 9-1 in 1954 and following that with an 8-2 showing in his sophomore campaign in 1955.
The wheels came off for Brennan's Irish in 1956, however. At that point, the Irish had played 68 seasons of college football and had never lost more than five games in a single season. Prior to 1956, Heartley "Hunk" Anderson's 1933 squad (3-5-1) held the distinction as the worst in modern times. Brennan's 1956 squad set new records for futility, tallying a horrid 2-8 record, including a school-record 40-0 loss to Michigan State at home, as well as a 48-8 loss at Iowa. For a program that seven years before had capped a stretch of four consecutive undefeated seasons, such a record must have seemed unimaginable.
Doubts about Brennan resurfaced, but were somewhat assuaged in 1957 when the Irish rebounded with a 7-3 record, including a 7-0 win at Oklahoma that ended the Sooners' 47-game winning streak (still an NCAA record). In 1958, Brennan's Irish seemed ready to build on the momentum of the previous season, but it was not meant to be. Notre Dame struggled to a 6-4 record. Following that season, Brennan was unceremoniously shown the door on Christmas Eve.
The writing on the wall for how the 1958 season would play out could have been seen in that year's fourth game. Following a 14-2 loss to an Army squad that finished with an 8-0-1 record, Brennan's Irish hosted the mediocre Duke Blue Devils. Despite considerably more talent and the home-field advantage, the Irish struggled mightily against the Devils, managing to squeak out a 9-7 win. That 1958 contest between the Irish and Devils was the first on the gridiron between the schools. Since then, the teams have met twice more. The Irish capped a forgettable 1961 campaign by losing at Duke, 37-13. In 1966, the Irish exacted revenge and then some; en route to that season's national championship, the Irish throttled the Devils, 64-0 at Notre Dame, in one of the most lopsided wins in school history. Overall, the Irish lead the all-time series against Duke, 2-1-0.
Saturday's contest will mark the final home game for the class of 2008. This class has dealt with much adversity, and will forever be remembered as the class that saw the Navy streak come to an end. For the seven members of the class of 2008, here's to hoping that the Irish can finally win a game at home.
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
-The Irish have never started a season 1-10. The Irish have also never gone winless at home.
-Since the start of the Holtz Era in 1986, the Irish are 15-6 (.714) in home finales.
-The Irish are 2-0 in home finales under Charlie Weis.
-It has been 41 years since the Irish and Devils last met on the gridiron. The Irish have taken breaks longer than 41 years between games in only eight other series: Rutgers (75 years, 1921-96); Baylor (73 years, 1925-98); Kansas (61 years, 1938-99); Ohio State (59 years, 1936-1995); Rice (58 years, 1915-73); Penn State (48 years, 1928-76); Washington (46 years, 1949-95); and UCLA (42 years, 1964-2006).
-These schools are not scheduled to meet again.
-An update on the all-time wins list:
(1) Michigan, 848
(2) Notre Dame, 822
(3) Texas, 820
In a word, infuriating.
The game kicks off on NBC at 2:30 E.S.T.
Go Irish! Beat Devils!
Big Mike
copyright Michael D. McAllister 2007
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Notre Dame vs. Air Force
Lou Holtz was a tired man by the time the 1996 season came around. He had coached with distinction for many years, and was still widely loved at Notre Dame despite a 6-5-1 record in 1994 and a 9-3 record in 1995. Change was in the air at Notre Dame in 1996, however. Holtz's good friend and golfing buddy Dick Rosenthal had stepped down as athletic director, replaced by Mike Wadsworth, who had played football at N.D. in the 1960s. As is the case with so many athletic directors, Wadsworth was eager to place his own unique stamp on the Notre Dame athletic department.
Wadsworth took the athletic department helm in the fall of 1995. Following that football season, he conducted a job evaluation for Holtz, giving him (for the first time) an actual job description, laying out the expectations for the head football coach. Holtz had been used to dealing with Wadsworth's predecessors, Gene Corrigan and Rosenthal, men who got out of the coach's way when it came to the football program. That would not be the case with Wadsworth. Perhaps because of Wadsworth's impressive achievements (football player at N.D., successful lawyer, and a diplomatic career as well), Holtz felt intimidated by his new boss.
Things came to a head in South Bend in October 1996. Holtz had never seen his Irish lose to a service academy in his eleven years on the sidelines. Air Force came into town, lightly regarded, especially by an Irish squad that had just tallied 54 points against a top-20 Washington team two weeks before. The Falcons defense came ready to play, holding the Irish to a staggering 67 yards rushing. Benefiting from a botched call that took away a potential game-winning touchdown from Irish WR Raki Nelson, Air Force pushed the game into overtime. There, the Falcons scored a field goal, and then shut down the anemic Irish offense to clinch a 20-17 victory.
Holtz and the Irish were devastated. Fans did not know what to make of such a loss, and many thought that perhaps Holtz had finally lost his touch. Holtz certainly felt that way, and (according to Wadsworth) over the next several weeks had numerous conversations with his boss about resigning. A month after the Air Force loss, Holtz announced that he was stepping down, stating that he didn't want to do it, but felt it was the right thing to do. Speculation ran rampant. Was Holtz being forced out? To this day, Holtz has remained silent on the situation, and no one knows for sure what led up to the resignation of Notre Dame's last championship-winning coach.
Did Holtz leave of his own volition, or did Wadsworth and the university administration force him out because the football program had become too big for the administration's comfort? The answer may never be known, but the consequences of Holtz's resignation/firing in 1996 are still being felt today. In his eleven years as head coach, the Irish won over 76% of their games. Since Holtz left, the Irish have had a line of mediocre hires including (perhaps) the current coach, Charlie Weis. In the eleven post-Holtz years, Holtz's three successors have tallied an underwhelming record of 76-55. Overall, the program's 58% winning percentage in the last eleven seasons is one of the worst eleven-year stretches ever experienced by Notre Dame football. And while the reasons for Holtz's departure were complex, the dominos all started falling when the Air Force Falcons came to town during that autumn eleven years ago.
As is the case with the other service academies, and as this story indicates, Notre Dame and Air Force have an interesting history on the gridiron. Because the Air Force Academy was not founded until 1955, the Irish and Falcons only started playing in 1964. Since that initial meeting, a 34-7 victory for the #6 Irish, Notre Dame has owned the series. Overall, they hold a 22-5-0 record against Air Force. Curiously, four of the Falcons' five wins came during a four-game winning streak over the Gerry Faust-coached Irish between 1982 and 1985. That four-game winning streak is the longest such streak by one of the service academies over the Irish. The fifth win was that monumental contest in 1996.
In the last series game played at Notre Dame, the Irish bounced back, avenging themselves with a 34-31 overtime victory over the Falcons at Notre Dame Stadium in 2000. The most recent series games were played in Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs in 2002 and last season, games the Irish both won.
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
Other notes:
-Notre Dame is 1-8 for the second time in school history. Only the abysmal 1960 season shares this distinction with the 2007 Irish. Notre Dame has never started a season 1-9, nor have the Irish ever lost more than eight games in a single season.
-The Irish have won 12 of their last 13 against the Falcons, dating back to 1986. The sole loss came in the aforementioned overtime game at N.D. in 1996.
-Notre Dame holds a 10-3 record against Air Force at Notre Dame Stadium.
-The Irish hold a 128-23-5 (.837) record against the three service academies. Last week, the Irish lost to a service academy for the first time since 1996, and to Navy for the first time since November 1963.
-The last time the Irish lost to two service academies in the same season was 1944, when Army and Navy both downed Notre Dame.
-For only the second time this season (Navy), the Irish will play a school without a BCS conference affiliation.
-These schools are not scheduled to meet again.
-An update on the all-time wins list that's sure to make Irish fan's blood boil:
(1) Michigan, 868
(2) Notre Dame, 822
(3) Texas, 819
The game kicks off on NBC at 2:30 E.S.T. on Saturday.
Go Irish! Beat Falcons!
Big Mike
For more information on the Holtz-Wadsworth situation in 1996, consult Steve Delsohn's Talking Irish.
Wadsworth took the athletic department helm in the fall of 1995. Following that football season, he conducted a job evaluation for Holtz, giving him (for the first time) an actual job description, laying out the expectations for the head football coach. Holtz had been used to dealing with Wadsworth's predecessors, Gene Corrigan and Rosenthal, men who got out of the coach's way when it came to the football program. That would not be the case with Wadsworth. Perhaps because of Wadsworth's impressive achievements (football player at N.D., successful lawyer, and a diplomatic career as well), Holtz felt intimidated by his new boss.
Things came to a head in South Bend in October 1996. Holtz had never seen his Irish lose to a service academy in his eleven years on the sidelines. Air Force came into town, lightly regarded, especially by an Irish squad that had just tallied 54 points against a top-20 Washington team two weeks before. The Falcons defense came ready to play, holding the Irish to a staggering 67 yards rushing. Benefiting from a botched call that took away a potential game-winning touchdown from Irish WR Raki Nelson, Air Force pushed the game into overtime. There, the Falcons scored a field goal, and then shut down the anemic Irish offense to clinch a 20-17 victory.
Holtz and the Irish were devastated. Fans did not know what to make of such a loss, and many thought that perhaps Holtz had finally lost his touch. Holtz certainly felt that way, and (according to Wadsworth) over the next several weeks had numerous conversations with his boss about resigning. A month after the Air Force loss, Holtz announced that he was stepping down, stating that he didn't want to do it, but felt it was the right thing to do. Speculation ran rampant. Was Holtz being forced out? To this day, Holtz has remained silent on the situation, and no one knows for sure what led up to the resignation of Notre Dame's last championship-winning coach.
Did Holtz leave of his own volition, or did Wadsworth and the university administration force him out because the football program had become too big for the administration's comfort? The answer may never be known, but the consequences of Holtz's resignation/firing in 1996 are still being felt today. In his eleven years as head coach, the Irish won over 76% of their games. Since Holtz left, the Irish have had a line of mediocre hires including (perhaps) the current coach, Charlie Weis. In the eleven post-Holtz years, Holtz's three successors have tallied an underwhelming record of 76-55. Overall, the program's 58% winning percentage in the last eleven seasons is one of the worst eleven-year stretches ever experienced by Notre Dame football. And while the reasons for Holtz's departure were complex, the dominos all started falling when the Air Force Falcons came to town during that autumn eleven years ago.
As is the case with the other service academies, and as this story indicates, Notre Dame and Air Force have an interesting history on the gridiron. Because the Air Force Academy was not founded until 1955, the Irish and Falcons only started playing in 1964. Since that initial meeting, a 34-7 victory for the #6 Irish, Notre Dame has owned the series. Overall, they hold a 22-5-0 record against Air Force. Curiously, four of the Falcons' five wins came during a four-game winning streak over the Gerry Faust-coached Irish between 1982 and 1985. That four-game winning streak is the longest such streak by one of the service academies over the Irish. The fifth win was that monumental contest in 1996.
In the last series game played at Notre Dame, the Irish bounced back, avenging themselves with a 34-31 overtime victory over the Falcons at Notre Dame Stadium in 2000. The most recent series games were played in Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs in 2002 and last season, games the Irish both won.
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
Other notes:
-Notre Dame is 1-8 for the second time in school history. Only the abysmal 1960 season shares this distinction with the 2007 Irish. Notre Dame has never started a season 1-9, nor have the Irish ever lost more than eight games in a single season.
-The Irish have won 12 of their last 13 against the Falcons, dating back to 1986. The sole loss came in the aforementioned overtime game at N.D. in 1996.
-Notre Dame holds a 10-3 record against Air Force at Notre Dame Stadium.
-The Irish hold a 128-23-5 (.837) record against the three service academies. Last week, the Irish lost to a service academy for the first time since 1996, and to Navy for the first time since November 1963.
-The last time the Irish lost to two service academies in the same season was 1944, when Army and Navy both downed Notre Dame.
-For only the second time this season (Navy), the Irish will play a school without a BCS conference affiliation.
-These schools are not scheduled to meet again.
-An update on the all-time wins list that's sure to make Irish fan's blood boil:
(1) Michigan, 868
(2) Notre Dame, 822
(3) Texas, 819
The game kicks off on NBC at 2:30 E.S.T. on Saturday.
Go Irish! Beat Falcons!
Big Mike
For more information on the Holtz-Wadsworth situation in 1996, consult Steve Delsohn's Talking Irish.
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