Notre Dame vs. Stanford

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