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.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Notre Dame vs. Navy
"What was Rockne thinking?" That's a phrase that many Notre Dame fans must have uttered following the events of November 27, 1926. On that day, Notre Dame traveled to Pittsburgh to play the Tartans of Carnegie Tech, a regular opponent on Notre Dame schedules in those days. While the football squad headed east, the football coach headed west.
Instead of going with his team to face Carnegie, a lightly regarded game by everyone, Rockne went to Soldier Field in Chicago to cover that season's annual tilt between Army and Navy. While Rockne watched the clash of two east coast titans, he heard the public address announcer give the final score of the Notre Dame game. Unthinkably, the Tartans had beaten Notre Dame, 19-0, in one of the great upsets in the history of college football. The loss was a costly one for Notre Dame, as it was the only one that Rockne's squad tallied in the 1926 season, potentially costing them a second national title in three seasons.
So what was Rockne thinking? Speculation runs rampant to this day. Rockne was in Chicago to write about the game, as well as to scout players for selection to his All-America team. There was also the fact that Navy was to be added to Notre Dame’s schedule the following season. How much that played into Rockne's decision has never been determined.
Regardless, Rockne left his top assistant, Heartley "Hunk" Anderson, who would ultimately succeed Rockne as Notre Dame’s coach in 1931, in charge of the team with explicit instructions on defensive schemes to employ against the Tartans. Using Rockne's absence as motivation, Tech came out ready to play. When Tech ran plays that Rockne had not expected, Anderson's defense was confused. Yet, Anderson did not switch the defensive set, which Rockne later praised. Indeed, Rockne, perhaps trying to spare Anderson any public criticism, said that he would have fired Hunk on the spot if he had disobeyed Rockne's orders.
Despite the embarrassment of the Carnegie Tech loss, Rockne's team would rebound in the following years, winning national titles in 1929 and 1930, the last two seasons Rock would coach. The year following the Tech debacle, Notre Dame faced Navy for the first time on the gridiron, kicking off the longest running intersectional rivalry in college football history.
This Saturday, Notre Dame and Navy will meet again on the gridiron. This year will mark the 81st consecutive season that the teams will square off. The Irish have met no opponent more frequently than the Middies. Overall, the Irish hold a 70-9-1 record over Navy. The 70 wins over Navy are the most for the Irish over any one opponent. Since junior QB Roger Staubach led the Middies to a 35-14 win over the Irish in South Bend in 1963, Notre Dame has won every game between the schools. The 43 consecutive wins by the Irish over the Midshipmen marks the longest such streak by one opponent over another in the history of major college football.
Given that there is 81 years of history in this series, it stands to reason that there's a bit more to this annual clash than meets the eye. Notre Dame critics frequently criticize the Irish for playing Navy, yet the schools continue to play every year. The reason dates back to World War II. During the war years, many universities faced tremendous financial hardship as current and potential college students were mobilized into the military. Notre Dame, however, continued to function as well as could be expected with the tremendous diversion of so many college-aged men into the armed forces. In great measure, this could be attributed to the U.S. Department of the Navy selecting Notre Dame as one of its five stations for the training of officers during the war. This move by the Navy essentially spared the university from financial ruin during the lean war years. As the story goes, as a sign of gratitude and goodwill, since World War II Notre Dame has left open on its football schedule a spot for the Naval Academy, a gesture that Navy continues to accept each year.
The early years of this series were marked by titanic battles between powerful teams. Navy was the opponent for the Dedication Game at the original Notre Dame Stadium in 1930. Between 1944 and 1950, Navy was one of only two teams to defeat the Irish (Army was the other). In more recent times, the disparity of talent between the schools has become more accentuated, but Navy frequently finds a way to give Notre Dame a tough game, particularly in games in South Bend. In 1997, 1999, and 2003, the Irish managed to win home games narrowly by margins of four, four, and three points, respectively. In the most recent game at Notre Dame in 2005, the Irish ran through the Middies, winning 42-21. Last season, the Irish dispensed with the Middies with relative ease in Baltimore, winning, 38-14.
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
-The Irish have never started a season 1-8. They last started a season 2-7 in 1963, when that was their final record. Nineteen sixty-three was also the last season in which the Irish failed to win five or more games, and the last season in which Navy beat the Irish.
-This will be the 30th series game played at Notre Dame Stadium. In the previous 29 games, the Irish hold a 26-3 record against Navy. Navy's only three wins at N.D. came in 1957, 1961, and 1963.
-The Irish have won twenty-one consecutive home games against Navy. Overall, they are 45-7 all-time in games at N.D. Stadium against the service academies.
-N.D. is 36-1 against service academies since the beginning of the Holtz Era in 1986. The only loss came in overtime to Air Force in 1996.
-The Irish have scored 2,178 points against Navy, making them N.D.'s most scored-against opponent.
-These teams will continue to meet every year as they have continuously since 1927.
The game kicks off at 2:30 E.D.T. on NBC.
Go Irish! Beat Navy!
Big Mike
Instead of going with his team to face Carnegie, a lightly regarded game by everyone, Rockne went to Soldier Field in Chicago to cover that season's annual tilt between Army and Navy. While Rockne watched the clash of two east coast titans, he heard the public address announcer give the final score of the Notre Dame game. Unthinkably, the Tartans had beaten Notre Dame, 19-0, in one of the great upsets in the history of college football. The loss was a costly one for Notre Dame, as it was the only one that Rockne's squad tallied in the 1926 season, potentially costing them a second national title in three seasons.
So what was Rockne thinking? Speculation runs rampant to this day. Rockne was in Chicago to write about the game, as well as to scout players for selection to his All-America team. There was also the fact that Navy was to be added to Notre Dame’s schedule the following season. How much that played into Rockne's decision has never been determined.
Regardless, Rockne left his top assistant, Heartley "Hunk" Anderson, who would ultimately succeed Rockne as Notre Dame’s coach in 1931, in charge of the team with explicit instructions on defensive schemes to employ against the Tartans. Using Rockne's absence as motivation, Tech came out ready to play. When Tech ran plays that Rockne had not expected, Anderson's defense was confused. Yet, Anderson did not switch the defensive set, which Rockne later praised. Indeed, Rockne, perhaps trying to spare Anderson any public criticism, said that he would have fired Hunk on the spot if he had disobeyed Rockne's orders.
Despite the embarrassment of the Carnegie Tech loss, Rockne's team would rebound in the following years, winning national titles in 1929 and 1930, the last two seasons Rock would coach. The year following the Tech debacle, Notre Dame faced Navy for the first time on the gridiron, kicking off the longest running intersectional rivalry in college football history.
This Saturday, Notre Dame and Navy will meet again on the gridiron. This year will mark the 81st consecutive season that the teams will square off. The Irish have met no opponent more frequently than the Middies. Overall, the Irish hold a 70-9-1 record over Navy. The 70 wins over Navy are the most for the Irish over any one opponent. Since junior QB Roger Staubach led the Middies to a 35-14 win over the Irish in South Bend in 1963, Notre Dame has won every game between the schools. The 43 consecutive wins by the Irish over the Midshipmen marks the longest such streak by one opponent over another in the history of major college football.
Given that there is 81 years of history in this series, it stands to reason that there's a bit more to this annual clash than meets the eye. Notre Dame critics frequently criticize the Irish for playing Navy, yet the schools continue to play every year. The reason dates back to World War II. During the war years, many universities faced tremendous financial hardship as current and potential college students were mobilized into the military. Notre Dame, however, continued to function as well as could be expected with the tremendous diversion of so many college-aged men into the armed forces. In great measure, this could be attributed to the U.S. Department of the Navy selecting Notre Dame as one of its five stations for the training of officers during the war. This move by the Navy essentially spared the university from financial ruin during the lean war years. As the story goes, as a sign of gratitude and goodwill, since World War II Notre Dame has left open on its football schedule a spot for the Naval Academy, a gesture that Navy continues to accept each year.
The early years of this series were marked by titanic battles between powerful teams. Navy was the opponent for the Dedication Game at the original Notre Dame Stadium in 1930. Between 1944 and 1950, Navy was one of only two teams to defeat the Irish (Army was the other). In more recent times, the disparity of talent between the schools has become more accentuated, but Navy frequently finds a way to give Notre Dame a tough game, particularly in games in South Bend. In 1997, 1999, and 2003, the Irish managed to win home games narrowly by margins of four, four, and three points, respectively. In the most recent game at Notre Dame in 2005, the Irish ran through the Middies, winning 42-21. Last season, the Irish dispensed with the Middies with relative ease in Baltimore, winning, 38-14.
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
-The Irish have never started a season 1-8. They last started a season 2-7 in 1963, when that was their final record. Nineteen sixty-three was also the last season in which the Irish failed to win five or more games, and the last season in which Navy beat the Irish.
-This will be the 30th series game played at Notre Dame Stadium. In the previous 29 games, the Irish hold a 26-3 record against Navy. Navy's only three wins at N.D. came in 1957, 1961, and 1963.
-The Irish have won twenty-one consecutive home games against Navy. Overall, they are 45-7 all-time in games at N.D. Stadium against the service academies.
-N.D. is 36-1 against service academies since the beginning of the Holtz Era in 1986. The only loss came in overtime to Air Force in 1996.
-The Irish have scored 2,178 points against Navy, making them N.D.'s most scored-against opponent.
-These teams will continue to meet every year as they have continuously since 1927.
The game kicks off at 2:30 E.D.T. on NBC.
Go Irish! Beat Navy!
Big Mike
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Notre Dame vs. Southern California
Every college football program goes through rough stretches. For Notre
Dame, the past 14 seasons comprise one of the lowest stretches the
program has reached in its 119 seasons of college football. The 2007
season puts the icing on the cake perhaps, complete with the worst
start through seven games in the history of the program, tied with the
1956 and 1960 teams, both of which also started 1-6 en route to 2-8
final records. Still, even during this down period in the past 14
seasons, there have been some highlights. It is perhaps symbolic of
Notre Dame's struggles that one of its signature moments in recent
years was not a win but a loss.
Two years ago, Southern Cal came to Notre Dame ranked #1 and riding
high, having won 27 straight games. The Trojans were a team, then as
now, stacked with talent, led by luminaries such as QB Matt Leinart and
RB Reggie Bush. The Irish that season were experiencing a bit of a
resurgence under first-year coach Charlie Weis. With a 4-1 record,
they had impressed most everyone with their improbable turnaround from
the previous season. Entering the game, Southern Cal had beaten Notre
Dame three consecutive years, each time by 31 points. In 2004,
Southern Cal's head coach, Pete Carroll, left in his starters late into
the fourth quarter to run up the score; in 2005 the Irish had payback
on their minds.
What ensued was one of the most exciting college football games anyone
had seen in quite a while. The plucky Irish gave the Trojans all they
could handle throughout the game, and Notre Dame Stadium was as loud as
it had been for the #1 vs. #2 match-up between Florida State and the
Irish in 1993. Notre Dame led the game, 31-28, late in the fourth
quarter. Then, Southern Cal pulled off a series of improbable plays.
With the ball deep in their own territory and facing a fourth down and
nine, Leinart completed a beautiful pass to WR Dwayne Jarrett, who very
nearly broke free for the go-ahead touchdown, but still managed to
scamper 61 yards down the field before being stopped. A few plays
later, it appeared as though Southern Cal's streak had come to an end,
as Leinart was stopped short of the goal line inbounds. Luckily for
the Trojans, the ball popped loose and fell out of bounds, giving
Southern Cal one last chance at victory. On the final play of the
game, Leinart executed a QB sneak to the left side of the line, aided
by a push from teammate Bush. Southern Cal prevailed, 34-31, in one of
the most memorable endings in this long series.
With a number of traditional opponents and schedule regulars on this
season's slate of games, there has been a great deal of talk about
rivalries this season. For Notre Dame, there is but one true rival,
however, and that is Southern California. Since 1926, this game has
defined both programs. That season, in a game played at the Coliseum,
Notre Dame's ambidextrous fourth-string QB Art Parisien, inserted into
the contest late in the fourth quarter with Notre Dame trailing, 12-7,
completed a touchdown pass to Butch Niemiec, giving N.D. an improbable
13-12 win, setting the tone for so many great future meetings between
the schools. The two "Founding Fathers" of this series, Knute Rockne
and Southern Cal's Howard Jones, were legendary coaches who understood
the interest that an annual intersectional meeting between the schools
would foster. Between 1928 and 1932, for example, the winner of the
Notre Dame-Southern Cal game ended up as that season's national
champion. Southern Cal was the last opponent against which Rockne
would ever coach; a 27-0 victory at Southern Cal in 1930 capped Notre
Dame's second straight national title season and a nineteenth
consecutive win for Rockne, who would be killed in a plane crash the
following spring.
Every year since 1926 (with the exception of 1943-45, when wartime
travel restrictions prohibited the teams from meeting), Notre Dame and
Southern Cal have met on the gridiron. This Saturday will mark the
79th meeting of the schools, as well as the 62nd straight season in
which they will meet. Overall, the Irish hold a 42-31-5 record against
the Trojans. No team has beaten Southern Cal more often than Notre
Dame and no team has beaten Notre Dame more often than Southern Cal.
Given the emotions that accompany games in this series, the underdog
often wins. In 1963, defending national champion Southern Cal traveled
to South Bend to play the Irish. In the midst of a woeful 2-7 season,
the Irish managed to defeat their rivals, marking one bright spot in a
season of misery. In more recent times, Notre Dame has seen seasons
spoiled by the Trojans. In 1998, for example, Notre Dame only needed a
win at lowly regarded Southern Cal to earn a trip to a major bowl game.
Instead, the Trojans gave the Irish a tough game, beating them, 10-0.
Recent times have been unkind to the Irish in this series. Since 2002,
Southern Cal has won five straight against Notre Dame by an average of
23 points. Last season, the Irish ventured out to the Coliseum with
hopes of an 11-1 finish to their regular season, but the Trojans
whipped them, 44-24. That loss started a seven-game losing streak that
the Irish finally stopped earlier this month at UCLA.
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
Other notes:
-The Irish have never started a season 1-7.
-Notre Dame is 23-11-1 (.671) against Southern Cal at Notre Dame
Stadium all-time. Since 1983, Notre Dame is 9-3-0 against the Trojans
at home. Southern Cal has won two straight at Notre Dame, and three of
the last five. Prior to 1997, the Trojans had lost seven straight at
Notre Dame Stadium.
-Southern Cal has never won three consecutive games at Notre Dame.
-At least one team has been ranked in 60 of the 68 games played in this
series since the advent of the Associated Press poll in 1936. In 29 of
those 68 games, both teams were ranked.
-The Irish have never lost to the Trojans six straight times. The only
programs to defeat Notre Dame more than five consecutive times are
Michigan (eight times between 1887 and 1908), and Michigan State (eight
times between 1955 and 1963).
-Notre Dame and Southern Cal rank #2 and #8 in all-time winning
percentage, and #2 and #10 in all-time wins, respectively.
-The Irish are 10-6 (.625) in home games under Charlie Weis.
-The winner of this game receives the Shillelagh Trophy, presented by
the Notre Dame Club of Los Angeles. The original trophy was purportedly
flown from Ireland by the pilot of billionaire-recluse Howard Hughes
for the 1952 game. Irish wins are represented by emerald shamrocks;
Trojan wins are represented by ruby Trojan heads. The original trophy
was retired after the 1989 game and is permanently displayed at Notre
Dame. The current trophy dates from 1990.
-These teams will continue to meet annually, as they have each year
since 1946.
Michigan's lead has swelled to six games, so I will discontinue updates
on the UM-ND competition until a later time
The game kicks off at 3:30 E.D.T. on NBC.
Go Irish! Beat Trojans!
Big Mike
Dame, the past 14 seasons comprise one of the lowest stretches the
program has reached in its 119 seasons of college football. The 2007
season puts the icing on the cake perhaps, complete with the worst
start through seven games in the history of the program, tied with the
1956 and 1960 teams, both of which also started 1-6 en route to 2-8
final records. Still, even during this down period in the past 14
seasons, there have been some highlights. It is perhaps symbolic of
Notre Dame's struggles that one of its signature moments in recent
years was not a win but a loss.
Two years ago, Southern Cal came to Notre Dame ranked #1 and riding
high, having won 27 straight games. The Trojans were a team, then as
now, stacked with talent, led by luminaries such as QB Matt Leinart and
RB Reggie Bush. The Irish that season were experiencing a bit of a
resurgence under first-year coach Charlie Weis. With a 4-1 record,
they had impressed most everyone with their improbable turnaround from
the previous season. Entering the game, Southern Cal had beaten Notre
Dame three consecutive years, each time by 31 points. In 2004,
Southern Cal's head coach, Pete Carroll, left in his starters late into
the fourth quarter to run up the score; in 2005 the Irish had payback
on their minds.
What ensued was one of the most exciting college football games anyone
had seen in quite a while. The plucky Irish gave the Trojans all they
could handle throughout the game, and Notre Dame Stadium was as loud as
it had been for the #1 vs. #2 match-up between Florida State and the
Irish in 1993. Notre Dame led the game, 31-28, late in the fourth
quarter. Then, Southern Cal pulled off a series of improbable plays.
With the ball deep in their own territory and facing a fourth down and
nine, Leinart completed a beautiful pass to WR Dwayne Jarrett, who very
nearly broke free for the go-ahead touchdown, but still managed to
scamper 61 yards down the field before being stopped. A few plays
later, it appeared as though Southern Cal's streak had come to an end,
as Leinart was stopped short of the goal line inbounds. Luckily for
the Trojans, the ball popped loose and fell out of bounds, giving
Southern Cal one last chance at victory. On the final play of the
game, Leinart executed a QB sneak to the left side of the line, aided
by a push from teammate Bush. Southern Cal prevailed, 34-31, in one of
the most memorable endings in this long series.
With a number of traditional opponents and schedule regulars on this
season's slate of games, there has been a great deal of talk about
rivalries this season. For Notre Dame, there is but one true rival,
however, and that is Southern California. Since 1926, this game has
defined both programs. That season, in a game played at the Coliseum,
Notre Dame's ambidextrous fourth-string QB Art Parisien, inserted into
the contest late in the fourth quarter with Notre Dame trailing, 12-7,
completed a touchdown pass to Butch Niemiec, giving N.D. an improbable
13-12 win, setting the tone for so many great future meetings between
the schools. The two "Founding Fathers" of this series, Knute Rockne
and Southern Cal's Howard Jones, were legendary coaches who understood
the interest that an annual intersectional meeting between the schools
would foster. Between 1928 and 1932, for example, the winner of the
Notre Dame-Southern Cal game ended up as that season's national
champion. Southern Cal was the last opponent against which Rockne
would ever coach; a 27-0 victory at Southern Cal in 1930 capped Notre
Dame's second straight national title season and a nineteenth
consecutive win for Rockne, who would be killed in a plane crash the
following spring.
Every year since 1926 (with the exception of 1943-45, when wartime
travel restrictions prohibited the teams from meeting), Notre Dame and
Southern Cal have met on the gridiron. This Saturday will mark the
79th meeting of the schools, as well as the 62nd straight season in
which they will meet. Overall, the Irish hold a 42-31-5 record against
the Trojans. No team has beaten Southern Cal more often than Notre
Dame and no team has beaten Notre Dame more often than Southern Cal.
Given the emotions that accompany games in this series, the underdog
often wins. In 1963, defending national champion Southern Cal traveled
to South Bend to play the Irish. In the midst of a woeful 2-7 season,
the Irish managed to defeat their rivals, marking one bright spot in a
season of misery. In more recent times, Notre Dame has seen seasons
spoiled by the Trojans. In 1998, for example, Notre Dame only needed a
win at lowly regarded Southern Cal to earn a trip to a major bowl game.
Instead, the Trojans gave the Irish a tough game, beating them, 10-0.
Recent times have been unkind to the Irish in this series. Since 2002,
Southern Cal has won five straight against Notre Dame by an average of
23 points. Last season, the Irish ventured out to the Coliseum with
hopes of an 11-1 finish to their regular season, but the Trojans
whipped them, 44-24. That loss started a seven-game losing streak that
the Irish finally stopped earlier this month at UCLA.
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
Other notes:
-The Irish have never started a season 1-7.
-Notre Dame is 23-11-1 (.671) against Southern Cal at Notre Dame
Stadium all-time. Since 1983, Notre Dame is 9-3-0 against the Trojans
at home. Southern Cal has won two straight at Notre Dame, and three of
the last five. Prior to 1997, the Trojans had lost seven straight at
Notre Dame Stadium.
-Southern Cal has never won three consecutive games at Notre Dame.
-At least one team has been ranked in 60 of the 68 games played in this
series since the advent of the Associated Press poll in 1936. In 29 of
those 68 games, both teams were ranked.
-The Irish have never lost to the Trojans six straight times. The only
programs to defeat Notre Dame more than five consecutive times are
Michigan (eight times between 1887 and 1908), and Michigan State (eight
times between 1955 and 1963).
-Notre Dame and Southern Cal rank #2 and #8 in all-time winning
percentage, and #2 and #10 in all-time wins, respectively.
-The Irish are 10-6 (.625) in home games under Charlie Weis.
-The winner of this game receives the Shillelagh Trophy, presented by
the Notre Dame Club of Los Angeles. The original trophy was purportedly
flown from Ireland by the pilot of billionaire-recluse Howard Hughes
for the 1952 game. Irish wins are represented by emerald shamrocks;
Trojan wins are represented by ruby Trojan heads. The original trophy
was retired after the 1989 game and is permanently displayed at Notre
Dame. The current trophy dates from 1990.
-These teams will continue to meet annually, as they have each year
since 1946.
Michigan's lead has swelled to six games, so I will discontinue updates
on the UM-ND competition until a later time
The game kicks off at 3:30 E.D.T. on NBC.
Go Irish! Beat Trojans!
Big Mike
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Notre Dame vs. Boston College
Knute Rockne was one of football's greatest coaches, and his innovative spirit enabled him to propel the Notre Dame program into college football's limelight during the 1920s. That era, frequently known as a Golden Age of American Sports, and one that featured stars like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in baseball, and Jack Dempsey in boxing, was one that was particularly suited to a man of Rockne's talents. Seizing upon the popularity that the Notre Dame program enjoyed in that decade, Rockne did a number of things, including laying out plans for the building of an expansive new stadium on Notre Dame's campus, improving his extensive recruiting network, and assembling ambitious schedules that pitted Notre Dame against quality competition from coast to coast.
Rockne's success through the first several years at Notre Dame had given the program a greater national appeal, and allowed the coach some degree of leeway when putting together schedules. Whereas early in his career, Rockne scheduled fellow Catholic schools such as St. Louis University, and the University of Detroit, by 1928 he had decided to do away with playing other Catholic schools. That year, Notre Dame kicked off its season against Loyola University of New Orleans. It would be the last game for Notre Dame against a fellow Catholic school for 47 years. Rockne reasoned that Notre Dame gained little by playing other Catholic schools and, if anything, playing the games actually hurt Notre Dame's unique national appeal because it divided the loyalties of the school's Catholic fan base.
Time went by, and gradually this policy became a moot point as most Catholic universities abandoned big-time football. One other Catholic school, however, continued to play major college football: Boston College. Even with this common affiliation that linked the schools together, Notre Dame and Boston College would not play until 1975, and would not become regular opponents until 1992. An episode from the past, however, tied them together.
During the 1939 and 1940 seasons, Frank Leahy had turned Boston College into an instant success, guiding them to a 20-2 record in those two seasons. At the end of the 1940 season, Notre Dame coach Elmer Layden stepped down to become the first commissioner of the National Football League, and Notre Dame immediately turned its attention to the youthful Leahy, a Notre Dame alumnus. Although he recently had signed a five-year contract extension with Boston College, he asked for an escape clause should Notre Dame ever come calling. After a cloak-and-dagger interview process that involved Leahy and a priest from Notre Dame meeting in Albany (complete with the use of assumed names at their hotels), Leahy took the job and left Boston College's football fortunes to someone else. Leahy led Notre Dame to four national titles in the next nine years, and Boston College returned to mediocrity.
Despite their shared Catholic roots, Notre Dame and Boston College don't have much of a football tradition. The series dates back to 1975, when the teams met in a season-opening game at Foxboro Stadium. In Dan Devine's first game as Irish head coach, Notre Dame won, 17-3. The schools would not meet again until the 1983 Liberty Bowl. Gerry Faust's 6-5 Irish upended the Doug Flutie-led Eagles in that game, 19-18.
A true series did not start between these schools until 1992. That year, #8 Notre Dame throttled #9 Boston College, 54-7. The severity of that beat-down was remembered by the Eagles and used for motivation the following year. In 1993 following their win over #1 Florida State the previous week, the Irish were now #1, and needing only a win over Boston College in the season finale to secure a berth in the national championship game. The #16 Eagles came out blazing, however, running out to a 38-17 lead. Notre Dame stormed back, scoring 22 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to claim a 39-38 lead with only one minute remaining. The motivated Eagles responded, however, and drove down the field, making a 41-yard field goal as time expired, ruining Notre Dame's perfect season, and the school's last best shot at a national title.
Since that game, all other games in this series have paled in comparison. Overall, the Irish hold a 9-7-0 lead in this series. Boston College usually plays its best against the Irish, not surprising given that the Eagles consider this their biggest game of the year. Dating back to 2001, Boston College has beaten Notre Dame four straight times. In 2004 in the last series game played, the Eagles completed a last-minute touchdown pass from 30 yards out to down the Irish, 24-23.
Other notes:
-With last week's win, the Irish are now 20-11 (.645) under Charlie Weis.
-Notre Dame is 5-4 against Boston College at Notre Dame Stadium. Boston College has won two straight games in South Bend. The Irish last defeated the Eagles at home in 2000, 28-16.
-The last four games in this series have been decided by a total of 14 points.
-Notre Dame's last three-game home losing streak came between 2004 and 2005, when the Irish lost four straight home games (losses to Boston College and Pitt in '04, and Michigan State and Southern Cal in '05).
-The only schools to beat Notre Dame five consecutive times are Southern Cal, who have done so on two different occasions (1978-82, 2002-06) and Michigan State, who beat the Irish eight straight times between 1955 and 1963.
-This will be the first time since 1979 that Notre Dame has hosted two members of the ACC in the same season. That year, the Irish went 1-1 against visitors Georgia Tech (a 21-13 win) and Clemson (a 16-10 loss).
-For some reason, the winner of this game receives not one, but two trophies: The Leahy Memorial Bowl, presented by the Notre Dame Club of Boston, and the Ireland Trophy, presented by Notre Dame Student Government.
-These schools will meet again next season in Chestnut Hill.
-In the ongoing competition between Michigan and Notre Dame for college football's all-time best winning percentage, here's where things stand after last week:
Michigan defeated Eastern Michigan, 33-22, moving their record to 864-284-36 for a winning percentage of .7449. This week, Michigan plays their sixth home game in seven contests this year, hosting Purdue.
Notre Dame snapped its seven-game losing streak by winning on the road at UCLA, 20-6, moving their record to 822-274-42 for a winning percentage of .7408. This week, Notre Dame hosts #4 Boston College.
Michigan's lead remains at five games.
Boston College likely will be the highest ranked opponent the Irish face all year. The game kicks off at 3:30 E.D.T. on NBC.
Go Irish! Beat Eagles!
Big Mike
copyright Michael D. McAllister 2007
Rockne's success through the first several years at Notre Dame had given the program a greater national appeal, and allowed the coach some degree of leeway when putting together schedules. Whereas early in his career, Rockne scheduled fellow Catholic schools such as St. Louis University, and the University of Detroit, by 1928 he had decided to do away with playing other Catholic schools. That year, Notre Dame kicked off its season against Loyola University of New Orleans. It would be the last game for Notre Dame against a fellow Catholic school for 47 years. Rockne reasoned that Notre Dame gained little by playing other Catholic schools and, if anything, playing the games actually hurt Notre Dame's unique national appeal because it divided the loyalties of the school's Catholic fan base.
Time went by, and gradually this policy became a moot point as most Catholic universities abandoned big-time football. One other Catholic school, however, continued to play major college football: Boston College. Even with this common affiliation that linked the schools together, Notre Dame and Boston College would not play until 1975, and would not become regular opponents until 1992. An episode from the past, however, tied them together.
During the 1939 and 1940 seasons, Frank Leahy had turned Boston College into an instant success, guiding them to a 20-2 record in those two seasons. At the end of the 1940 season, Notre Dame coach Elmer Layden stepped down to become the first commissioner of the National Football League, and Notre Dame immediately turned its attention to the youthful Leahy, a Notre Dame alumnus. Although he recently had signed a five-year contract extension with Boston College, he asked for an escape clause should Notre Dame ever come calling. After a cloak-and-dagger interview process that involved Leahy and a priest from Notre Dame meeting in Albany (complete with the use of assumed names at their hotels), Leahy took the job and left Boston College's football fortunes to someone else. Leahy led Notre Dame to four national titles in the next nine years, and Boston College returned to mediocrity.
Despite their shared Catholic roots, Notre Dame and Boston College don't have much of a football tradition. The series dates back to 1975, when the teams met in a season-opening game at Foxboro Stadium. In Dan Devine's first game as Irish head coach, Notre Dame won, 17-3. The schools would not meet again until the 1983 Liberty Bowl. Gerry Faust's 6-5 Irish upended the Doug Flutie-led Eagles in that game, 19-18.
A true series did not start between these schools until 1992. That year, #8 Notre Dame throttled #9 Boston College, 54-7. The severity of that beat-down was remembered by the Eagles and used for motivation the following year. In 1993 following their win over #1 Florida State the previous week, the Irish were now #1, and needing only a win over Boston College in the season finale to secure a berth in the national championship game. The #16 Eagles came out blazing, however, running out to a 38-17 lead. Notre Dame stormed back, scoring 22 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to claim a 39-38 lead with only one minute remaining. The motivated Eagles responded, however, and drove down the field, making a 41-yard field goal as time expired, ruining Notre Dame's perfect season, and the school's last best shot at a national title.
Since that game, all other games in this series have paled in comparison. Overall, the Irish hold a 9-7-0 lead in this series. Boston College usually plays its best against the Irish, not surprising given that the Eagles consider this their biggest game of the year. Dating back to 2001, Boston College has beaten Notre Dame four straight times. In 2004 in the last series game played, the Eagles completed a last-minute touchdown pass from 30 yards out to down the Irish, 24-23.
Other notes:
-With last week's win, the Irish are now 20-11 (.645) under Charlie Weis.
-Notre Dame is 5-4 against Boston College at Notre Dame Stadium. Boston College has won two straight games in South Bend. The Irish last defeated the Eagles at home in 2000, 28-16.
-The last four games in this series have been decided by a total of 14 points.
-Notre Dame's last three-game home losing streak came between 2004 and 2005, when the Irish lost four straight home games (losses to Boston College and Pitt in '04, and Michigan State and Southern Cal in '05).
-The only schools to beat Notre Dame five consecutive times are Southern Cal, who have done so on two different occasions (1978-82, 2002-06) and Michigan State, who beat the Irish eight straight times between 1955 and 1963.
-This will be the first time since 1979 that Notre Dame has hosted two members of the ACC in the same season. That year, the Irish went 1-1 against visitors Georgia Tech (a 21-13 win) and Clemson (a 16-10 loss).
-For some reason, the winner of this game receives not one, but two trophies: The Leahy Memorial Bowl, presented by the Notre Dame Club of Boston, and the Ireland Trophy, presented by Notre Dame Student Government.
-These schools will meet again next season in Chestnut Hill.
-In the ongoing competition between Michigan and Notre Dame for college football's all-time best winning percentage, here's where things stand after last week:
Michigan defeated Eastern Michigan, 33-22, moving their record to 864-284-36 for a winning percentage of .7449. This week, Michigan plays their sixth home game in seven contests this year, hosting Purdue.
Notre Dame snapped its seven-game losing streak by winning on the road at UCLA, 20-6, moving their record to 822-274-42 for a winning percentage of .7408. This week, Notre Dame hosts #4 Boston College.
Michigan's lead remains at five games.
Boston College likely will be the highest ranked opponent the Irish face all year. The game kicks off at 3:30 E.D.T. on NBC.
Go Irish! Beat Eagles!
Big Mike
copyright Michael D. McAllister 2007
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
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
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
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Notre Dame vs. Purdue
In trying times such as the 2007 season for the Fighting Irish, it is sometimes educational to look back at how far the program has come since its humble beginnings in the fall of 1887. A look back at the 1896 season, for example, shows a schedule with opponents' names that are simply comical to the modern eye. Among that season’s adversaries were such luminaries as Chicago Physicians & Surgeons (a surprisingly worthy foe that actually defeated Notre Dame that year, 4-0), the University of Chicago (in those days a burgeoning power under Amos Alonzo Stagg), South Bend Athletic Club, Albion, Highland Views, and Beloit College. Aside from the game against Chicago, itself a newcomer to college football since that school's founding in 1892, the only other foe that is recognizable to modern-day Notre Dame fans is Purdue.
Then as now, Purdue was a regular on Notre Dame schedules. Among current members of the NCAA's Division I-A, the only schools to have older histories with Notre Dame are Michigan and Northwestern. Unlike those schools, however, Purdue has remained a staple for Notre Dame football through the decades. It is interesting to note that among all of Notre Dame's traditional opponents, Purdue is the only one the Irish have played at least once in each decade since the 1890s. While other members of the Big Ten Conference boycotted Notre Dame from their schedules throughout the first half of the twentieth century, Purdue continued to schedule Notre Dame. Since the end of World War II, Notre Dame and Purdue have played one another every year. This year, they will renew the series for the 62nd consecutive season.
Overall, the Irish hold a 51-25-2 record against Purdue. Saturday's game will be the 79th between Notre Dame and Purdue. Aside from Navy, the Irish have played and beaten no opponent more frequently than the Boilermakers. Aside from Southern Cal and Michigan State, no school has beaten the Irish more frequently than Purdue.
The series probably enjoyed its greatest glory during the late 1960s when Notre Dame and Purdue had teams perennially ranked in the top ten. In 1968 #1 Purdue handed #2 Notre Dame its only home loss ever in a #1 vs. #2 game, winning, 37-22. In more recent times the Irish came to dominate the series, winning, for example, 18 out of 22 games between 1975 and 1996. With the advent of Bob Davie's tenure at Notre Dame, however, parity came to the series once again. Since 1997, Notre Dame holds only a 6-4 record against their regular in-state foes. Notre Dame has won the last two series games.
In the last series game played in West Lafayette, the Irish throttled the Boilermakers in a night game, winning 49-28; the game wasn’t even that close. Last season, the Irish endured the rain that so often seems to accompany the Purdue game, winning at home, 35-21.
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
-This will be the second game in this series in the past 20 seasons in which neither team is ranked. The other came in 2001.
-Notre Dame holds a 25-13-2 (.600) record in games played between the schools at Purdue.
-Notre Dame is 8-3 (.727) in road games under Charlie Weis.
-The Irish have never started a season 0-5. Their last seven game losing streak came in 1960.
-The winner of the Notre Dame-Purdue series receives the Shillelagh Trophy, a tradition that dates back to 1957. The trophy was donated by the late Joe McLaughlin, a merchant seaman and Notre Dame fan who brought the club from Ireland.
-These teams are scheduled to continue meeting yearly, as they have since 1946.
-In the ongoing competition between Michigan and Notre Dame for the all-time best winning percentage in college football, here is where things stand after last weekend
Unranked Michigan defeated #10 Penn State at home, 14-9, moving their winning percentage to .7445. This week, unranked Michigan take to the road for the first time this season to play at unranked Northwestern.
Unranked Notre Dame lost its sixth consecutive game, falling for the sixth straight time at home to unranked Michigan State, 31-14. This drops Notre Dame's winning percentage to .7412, its lowest level since November 1910. This week, unranked Notre Dame travels to unranked Purdue.
Michigan's lead expands to 33/10,000ths of a point.
Texas defeated Rice, 58-14, to move within six wins of Notre Dame on the all-time wins list.
This week's game kicks off on ESPN at noon EDT.
Go Irish! Beat Boilers!
Big Mike
copyright Michael D. McAllister 2007
Then as now, Purdue was a regular on Notre Dame schedules. Among current members of the NCAA's Division I-A, the only schools to have older histories with Notre Dame are Michigan and Northwestern. Unlike those schools, however, Purdue has remained a staple for Notre Dame football through the decades. It is interesting to note that among all of Notre Dame's traditional opponents, Purdue is the only one the Irish have played at least once in each decade since the 1890s. While other members of the Big Ten Conference boycotted Notre Dame from their schedules throughout the first half of the twentieth century, Purdue continued to schedule Notre Dame. Since the end of World War II, Notre Dame and Purdue have played one another every year. This year, they will renew the series for the 62nd consecutive season.
Overall, the Irish hold a 51-25-2 record against Purdue. Saturday's game will be the 79th between Notre Dame and Purdue. Aside from Navy, the Irish have played and beaten no opponent more frequently than the Boilermakers. Aside from Southern Cal and Michigan State, no school has beaten the Irish more frequently than Purdue.
The series probably enjoyed its greatest glory during the late 1960s when Notre Dame and Purdue had teams perennially ranked in the top ten. In 1968 #1 Purdue handed #2 Notre Dame its only home loss ever in a #1 vs. #2 game, winning, 37-22. In more recent times the Irish came to dominate the series, winning, for example, 18 out of 22 games between 1975 and 1996. With the advent of Bob Davie's tenure at Notre Dame, however, parity came to the series once again. Since 1997, Notre Dame holds only a 6-4 record against their regular in-state foes. Notre Dame has won the last two series games.
In the last series game played in West Lafayette, the Irish throttled the Boilermakers in a night game, winning 49-28; the game wasn’t even that close. Last season, the Irish endured the rain that so often seems to accompany the Purdue game, winning at home, 35-21.
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
-This will be the second game in this series in the past 20 seasons in which neither team is ranked. The other came in 2001.
-Notre Dame holds a 25-13-2 (.600) record in games played between the schools at Purdue.
-Notre Dame is 8-3 (.727) in road games under Charlie Weis.
-The Irish have never started a season 0-5. Their last seven game losing streak came in 1960.
-The winner of the Notre Dame-Purdue series receives the Shillelagh Trophy, a tradition that dates back to 1957. The trophy was donated by the late Joe McLaughlin, a merchant seaman and Notre Dame fan who brought the club from Ireland.
-These teams are scheduled to continue meeting yearly, as they have since 1946.
-In the ongoing competition between Michigan and Notre Dame for the all-time best winning percentage in college football, here is where things stand after last weekend
Unranked Michigan defeated #10 Penn State at home, 14-9, moving their winning percentage to .7445. This week, unranked Michigan take to the road for the first time this season to play at unranked Northwestern.
Unranked Notre Dame lost its sixth consecutive game, falling for the sixth straight time at home to unranked Michigan State, 31-14. This drops Notre Dame's winning percentage to .7412, its lowest level since November 1910. This week, unranked Notre Dame travels to unranked Purdue.
Michigan's lead expands to 33/10,000ths of a point.
Texas defeated Rice, 58-14, to move within six wins of Notre Dame on the all-time wins list.
This week's game kicks off on ESPN at noon EDT.
Go Irish! Beat Boilers!
Big Mike
copyright Michael D. McAllister 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Notre Dame vs. Michigan State
In 1993 Notre Dame stood at 2-0 and was entering the third week of the
season, preparing for its annual game against Michigan State. The
Irish that year were a rag-tag group, a team that few people expected
to compete seriously on the national stage. The Irish had lost the
nucleus of the 1992 team that had finished with a 10-1-1 record, a
nucleus that included QB Rick Mirer, as well as RBs Reggie Brooks and
Jerome Bettis.
Still, the squad, led by senior QB Kevin McDougal, starting for the
first time in his career at N.D., opened with a 2-0 record after wins
against Northwestern and at #3 Michigan. The win at Michigan had
grabbed everyone's attention, and served as notice that the Irish would
be a formidable team that year. Into town came the unranked 1-0
Michigan State Spartans. Then as now, the Spartans were an erratic
team, dangerous against the Irish, but frequently inept against lesser
competition. Coming off a disappointing 5-6 finish in 1992, they were
looking to gain respectability by upending an Irish squad that was
flying high after their big win at Michigan. That was not to be the
case, however, as a formidable Irish offense and smothering defense led
Notre Dame to its sixth straight win over Michigan State.
By winning a convincing 36-14 victory over Michigan State, the Irish
continued their march toward a late-season match-up against #1 Florida
State, a game that second-ranked Notre Dame would win. Unbelievably,
that 1993 victory by Notre Dame over Michigan State marked the most
recent time the Irish won at home against Michigan State, a streak of
five straight home losses to the Spartans. No school has ever won six
straight games at Notre Dame.
In many ways, the Notre Dame-Michigan State series provides a barometer
on the Notre Dame football program in general. When things are going
well for the Irish, they tend to fare well against the Spartans. When
the Irish are down, however, they struggle against MSU. An example:
from 1954-63, Notre Dame experienced one of its lowest periods ever,
going 51-48 (.515). During that period, the Spartans dominated the
Irish, compiling a record of 8-1 in the series. On the other side of
the coin, from 1987 to 1993, when the Irish compiled a 72-12-1 (.853)
record, they were 6-0 against the Spartans. Since those days, the
Irish program again has stumbled into more trying times, and the
Michigan State series bears that out. Since the series was renewed in
1997 after a two-year break, the Spartans are 7-3 against the Irish,
including 5-0 in games played at Notre Dame during that period.
This series dates back to 1897, when the Michigan Aggies, as the
Spartans were called back then, fell to Notre Dame, 34-6, in a
rain-soaked game in South Bend. Since those days, the schools have
been frequent opponents, playing each other every season since 1959,
for example, with the exception of a two-year break in 1995-96.
During the 1940s, Michigan State was struggling as a football
independent. Still several years away from admittance into the Big Ten
Conference, Michigan State sought help from Notre Dame athletic
director Edward "Moose" Krause. By agreeing to a long-running series
against the Spartans, Krause helped steady the struggling program
during its difficult years. After joining the Big Ten in 1950,
Michigan State refused to go along with Michigan coach Fritz Crisler's
calls to other Big Ten schools to boycott the Irish.
No discussion of the Notre Dame-Michigan State series would be complete
without mention of the titanic battle between the schools in 1966.
That year, undefeated and untied Notre Dame, ranked #1, traveled to
East Lansing to play undefeated and untied Michigan State, ranked #2.
In a game that featured numerous Hall of Fame players, as well as two
coaching luminaries, the Irish and Spartans dueled to a 10-10 tie in
one of the most famous games in college football history. The game
continues to stand the test of time as one of the most memorable ever
played.
This weekend's game will be the 71st between the schools. Overall, the
Irish hold a 44-25-1 record against the Spartans, but, as previously
mentioned, the Spartans have won seven of the last 10 played in the
series. Michigan State is among the most frequent opponents to appear
on Notre Dame's schedules through the years. The only teams to play
the Irish more frequently are Navy (80), Purdue (78), and Southern Cal
(78).
In recent years, the schools have played some memorable games not
decided until the fourth quarter. Between 1999 and 2003, the schools
played six consecutive games determined in the closing minutes. The
2002 game, played at Spartan Stadium, featured a game-winning 60-yard
TD scamper by Irish WR Arnaz Battle in the last minute, Notre Dame's
first win over MSU since 1993. Since then, the schools have traded
wins on each other's home field. In 2005, the Spartans won a memorable
and heartbreaking victory over the Irish in overtime, 44-41. The sting
of defeat was accentuated for Irish fans by the sight of Spartans
players planting a Michigan State flag at the fifty yard-line of Notre
Dame Stadium. Last year, the Irish exacted a measure of revenge, as
Terrail Lambert returned an interception in the closing minute to
complete an improbable comeback from 16 points down to win at rainy
Spartan Stadium, 40-37.
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
Other notes:
-Two of Notre Dame's greatest coaches served as assistants at Michigan
State. Frank Leahy (1941-43, 1946-53) was an assistant in the 1930s
for Jim Crowley, a Notre Dame graduate and member of the famed "Four
Horsemen" backfield. Dan Devine (1975-80) served on MSU's staff in the
1950s.
-Navy (70), Purdue (51), and Pittsburgh (44) are the only opponents
that N.D. has beaten more frequently than MSU. Only Southern Cal (31)
has beaten N.D. more frequently than MSU.
-Notre Dame is 15-11 versus Michigan State at Notre Dame Stadium.
-The Irish are 10-4 (.714) at home under Charlie Weis.
-The Irish have never started a season 0-4.
-Notre Dame has only lost six straight games once. That streak came
during a string of eight straight losses in 1960.
-Since 1949, the winner of the Notre Dame-Michigan State game has
received the Megaphone Trophy, sponsored by the Notre Dame and Michigan
State clubs of Detroit.
-These schools are scheduled to continue meeting through the 2011
season. At that point, they are expected to take a two-year hiatus to
make room on Notre Dame's schedule for a home-and-home series against
either Arizona State or Oklahoma. The schools are expected to resume
the series in 2014.
-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:
Unranked Michigan walloped the hapless Irish, 38-0, moving their record
to 861-284-36 for a winning percentage of .7443. This week, the
unranked Wolverines host #10 Penn State.
Unranked Notre Dame was woefully bad in losing at unranked Michigan,
38-0. Their record drops to 821-272-42 for a winning percentage of
.7419. This stands as the program's lowest winning percentage since
November 1910. This week, the unranked Irish host unranked Michigan
State.
Michigan's lead expands to 24/10,000ths of a point, its largest lead
over Notre Dame since 1920.
Another sobering note as the Irish continue to freefall: Texas is
creeping up behind Notre Dame on the all-time wins list, and at this
point are just seven wins behind the Irish with 814. The #7 Longhorns
host Rice this week.
Notre Dame's game kicks off at 3:30 EDT on NBC.
Go Irish! Beat Spartans!
Big Mike
copyright Michael D. McAllister 2007
season, preparing for its annual game against Michigan State. The
Irish that year were a rag-tag group, a team that few people expected
to compete seriously on the national stage. The Irish had lost the
nucleus of the 1992 team that had finished with a 10-1-1 record, a
nucleus that included QB Rick Mirer, as well as RBs Reggie Brooks and
Jerome Bettis.
Still, the squad, led by senior QB Kevin McDougal, starting for the
first time in his career at N.D., opened with a 2-0 record after wins
against Northwestern and at #3 Michigan. The win at Michigan had
grabbed everyone's attention, and served as notice that the Irish would
be a formidable team that year. Into town came the unranked 1-0
Michigan State Spartans. Then as now, the Spartans were an erratic
team, dangerous against the Irish, but frequently inept against lesser
competition. Coming off a disappointing 5-6 finish in 1992, they were
looking to gain respectability by upending an Irish squad that was
flying high after their big win at Michigan. That was not to be the
case, however, as a formidable Irish offense and smothering defense led
Notre Dame to its sixth straight win over Michigan State.
By winning a convincing 36-14 victory over Michigan State, the Irish
continued their march toward a late-season match-up against #1 Florida
State, a game that second-ranked Notre Dame would win. Unbelievably,
that 1993 victory by Notre Dame over Michigan State marked the most
recent time the Irish won at home against Michigan State, a streak of
five straight home losses to the Spartans. No school has ever won six
straight games at Notre Dame.
In many ways, the Notre Dame-Michigan State series provides a barometer
on the Notre Dame football program in general. When things are going
well for the Irish, they tend to fare well against the Spartans. When
the Irish are down, however, they struggle against MSU. An example:
from 1954-63, Notre Dame experienced one of its lowest periods ever,
going 51-48 (.515). During that period, the Spartans dominated the
Irish, compiling a record of 8-1 in the series. On the other side of
the coin, from 1987 to 1993, when the Irish compiled a 72-12-1 (.853)
record, they were 6-0 against the Spartans. Since those days, the
Irish program again has stumbled into more trying times, and the
Michigan State series bears that out. Since the series was renewed in
1997 after a two-year break, the Spartans are 7-3 against the Irish,
including 5-0 in games played at Notre Dame during that period.
This series dates back to 1897, when the Michigan Aggies, as the
Spartans were called back then, fell to Notre Dame, 34-6, in a
rain-soaked game in South Bend. Since those days, the schools have
been frequent opponents, playing each other every season since 1959,
for example, with the exception of a two-year break in 1995-96.
During the 1940s, Michigan State was struggling as a football
independent. Still several years away from admittance into the Big Ten
Conference, Michigan State sought help from Notre Dame athletic
director Edward "Moose" Krause. By agreeing to a long-running series
against the Spartans, Krause helped steady the struggling program
during its difficult years. After joining the Big Ten in 1950,
Michigan State refused to go along with Michigan coach Fritz Crisler's
calls to other Big Ten schools to boycott the Irish.
No discussion of the Notre Dame-Michigan State series would be complete
without mention of the titanic battle between the schools in 1966.
That year, undefeated and untied Notre Dame, ranked #1, traveled to
East Lansing to play undefeated and untied Michigan State, ranked #2.
In a game that featured numerous Hall of Fame players, as well as two
coaching luminaries, the Irish and Spartans dueled to a 10-10 tie in
one of the most famous games in college football history. The game
continues to stand the test of time as one of the most memorable ever
played.
This weekend's game will be the 71st between the schools. Overall, the
Irish hold a 44-25-1 record against the Spartans, but, as previously
mentioned, the Spartans have won seven of the last 10 played in the
series. Michigan State is among the most frequent opponents to appear
on Notre Dame's schedules through the years. The only teams to play
the Irish more frequently are Navy (80), Purdue (78), and Southern Cal
(78).
In recent years, the schools have played some memorable games not
decided until the fourth quarter. Between 1999 and 2003, the schools
played six consecutive games determined in the closing minutes. The
2002 game, played at Spartan Stadium, featured a game-winning 60-yard
TD scamper by Irish WR Arnaz Battle in the last minute, Notre Dame's
first win over MSU since 1993. Since then, the schools have traded
wins on each other's home field. In 2005, the Spartans won a memorable
and heartbreaking victory over the Irish in overtime, 44-41. The sting
of defeat was accentuated for Irish fans by the sight of Spartans
players planting a Michigan State flag at the fifty yard-line of Notre
Dame Stadium. Last year, the Irish exacted a measure of revenge, as
Terrail Lambert returned an interception in the closing minute to
complete an improbable comeback from 16 points down to win at rainy
Spartan Stadium, 40-37.
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
Other notes:
-Two of Notre Dame's greatest coaches served as assistants at Michigan
State. Frank Leahy (1941-43, 1946-53) was an assistant in the 1930s
for Jim Crowley, a Notre Dame graduate and member of the famed "Four
Horsemen" backfield. Dan Devine (1975-80) served on MSU's staff in the
1950s.
-Navy (70), Purdue (51), and Pittsburgh (44) are the only opponents
that N.D. has beaten more frequently than MSU. Only Southern Cal (31)
has beaten N.D. more frequently than MSU.
-Notre Dame is 15-11 versus Michigan State at Notre Dame Stadium.
-The Irish are 10-4 (.714) at home under Charlie Weis.
-The Irish have never started a season 0-4.
-Notre Dame has only lost six straight games once. That streak came
during a string of eight straight losses in 1960.
-Since 1949, the winner of the Notre Dame-Michigan State game has
received the Megaphone Trophy, sponsored by the Notre Dame and Michigan
State clubs of Detroit.
-These schools are scheduled to continue meeting through the 2011
season. At that point, they are expected to take a two-year hiatus to
make room on Notre Dame's schedule for a home-and-home series against
either Arizona State or Oklahoma. The schools are expected to resume
the series in 2014.
-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:
Unranked Michigan walloped the hapless Irish, 38-0, moving their record
to 861-284-36 for a winning percentage of .7443. This week, the
unranked Wolverines host #10 Penn State.
Unranked Notre Dame was woefully bad in losing at unranked Michigan,
38-0. Their record drops to 821-272-42 for a winning percentage of
.7419. This stands as the program's lowest winning percentage since
November 1910. This week, the unranked Irish host unranked Michigan
State.
Michigan's lead expands to 24/10,000ths of a point, its largest lead
over Notre Dame since 1920.
Another sobering note as the Irish continue to freefall: Texas is
creeping up behind Notre Dame on the all-time wins list, and at this
point are just seven wins behind the Irish with 814. The #7 Longhorns
host Rice this week.
Notre Dame's game kicks off at 3:30 EDT on NBC.
Go Irish! Beat Spartans!
Big Mike
copyright Michael D. McAllister 2007
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