The Irish are 9-3. Unfortunately, I inadvertently included the Gold Medal last week while looking at the wrong date.
Bronze Medal, 1986: Never did a 5-6 finish at Notre Dame feel so good than this year. Under first-year head coach Lou Holtz, the Irish had lost last-possession games this year to Big Ten champ Michigan (24-23), at SEC champ LSU (21-19) and national champ Penn State (24-19), plus heartbreakers to Michigan State (20-15) and Pitt (10-9) to enter the USC game 4-6. It just did not know how to close.
Then trailing 37-20 in the fourth quarter at USC, all of a sudden the resilience resurfaced, led by Tim Brown and Steve Beuerlein, and a field goal by John Carney as time expired provided a thrilling 38-37 conquest. It was the first time ever Notre Dame had back-to-back losing seasons... but "the worm was beginning to turn."
Login to view embedded media
Silver Medal, 1952: In cold conditions at South Bend, No. 7 Notre Dame concludes the season with a 9-0 upset of No. 2 USC, intercepting five passes and allowing a mere five first down. Despite finishing 7-2-1, head coach Frank Leahy's Irish end the season No. 3 in the AP poll because they defeated four major conference champs: Oklahoma (Big 8), Texas (SWC), Purdue (Big 10 co-champ) and USC (Pac-8).
Gold Medal, 1930: With the national title hanging in the balance and one more week to go, Knute Rockne’s 8-0 Notre Dame team defeats 8-0-1 Army in front of 110,000 spectators at Soldier Field.
The conditions were among the worst ever for a Notre Dame game, but a second straight national title was on the line. Famed New York Daily News writer Paul Gallico, as recorded in Murray Sperber’s book “Shake Down The Thunder,” wrote of this contest: “It is cold, it is dark. It is alternating between a smoky drizzle and pouring rain. Snow, muck, and straw lie banked around the field…all I saw were twenty-two figures, unrecognizable as human beings and certainly not to be identified with any particular institution, squirming about in the muck.”
With only 3:30 remaining, Marchy Schwartz broke free, followed his downfield blockers and tallied on a 54-yard TD run. Frank Carideo’s PAT made it 7-0 and would prove to be crucial. Army would block an Irish punt to score in the closing minute, but the drop kick for the PAT was blocked, leaving Notre Dame ahead at the end, 7-6.
The run against Army was the highlight of a brilliant season for Schwartz. His 927 yards on the ground averaged 7.5 yards per carry, and he also was the leading passer with his 17 completions totaling 319 yards and three TDs. His single-season rushing total would stand for 46 years.
notredame.rivals.com
