ADVERTISEMENT

December 3: This Day In Notre Dame History:

Notre Dame is 2-1 — with the two wins aiding or clinching national titles, and the one defeat preventing one. The loss was in the 1938 season finale at USC (13-0), where the top-ranked Irish fell under Elmer Layden who also seriously vied for the 1935 title.

In his seven seasons at Notre Dame (1934-40), Layden's .770 winning percentage was actually better than what Lou Holtz (.765) and Dan Devine (.764) had. But because there is no national title like with Holtz and Devine, the former Four Horseman doesn't have a coaching statue on campus.

Silver Medal, 1977: Just like four years earlier in another national title run, Notre Dame caps its regular season with a 48-10 romp at night in Miami for its ninth straight win and a 10-1 campaign. Joe Montana completes 15 of 26 passes for 192 yards and three touchdowns, two to All-America tight end Ken MacAfee. Ranked No. 5, the 10-1 Irish next play No. 1 and 11-0 Texas in the Cotton Bowl, but the thought is Devine's career would need to win big to vault all the way to No. 1.
Here's a review of that season: Login to view embedded media

Gold Medal, 1949: Speaking of Cotton Bowl... this wasn't the bowl game but this contest in Dallas' Cotton Bowl Stadium was what head coach Frank Leahy described as the most exciting game he's ever been in as a player or coach. The 27-20 win over SMU clinches a third national title in four years, his first and only 10-0 campaign at Notre Dame — and four years without a defeat (36-0-2).

With SMU star Doak Walker injured, Kyle Rote steps in and puts on a scintillating performance that ties the game at 20 after ND jumped to a 14-0 lead (only a blocked extra point by ND's Gerry Groom keeps it tied). The Irish then march on a fourth-quarter game-winning TD drive with Billy Barrett tallying to make it 27-20, and then have a dramatic goal-line stand in which a fourth-down pass is intercepted by both Groom and Bob Lally.
  • Like
Reactions: edd1066

December 1: This Day In Notre Dame History

The Irish are 3-4 on this day, with only one game played on this day since 1973 — and that was because of a postponement.

Bronze Medal, 2001: The finale at Purdue is a result of the 9/11 tragedy earlier in the year in which the Sept. 15 games that weekend are postponed both at Division I-A colleges and in the NFL.

The 4-6 Irish limp into West Lafayette with reports hovering of fifth-year head coach Bob Davie likely to get fired shortly after the game. Amid the turmoil, the Irish snap a two-game losing in West Lafayette with a 24-18 victory, with the touchdowns coming on a run by freshman Ryan Grant, a kickoff return by Vontez Duff and an interception return by cornerback Jason Beckstrom.

Silver Medal, 1951: Because of the Korean War, the NCAA allows freshman to be eligible for this one season. It pays off when freshman quarterback Ralph Guglielmi is inserted as a first-time starter in the finale at USC, which is led by star halfback Frank Gifford. Guglielmi calmly rallies the Irish from a 12-7 deficit to 19-12 victory for a 7-2-1 finish. The future College Football Hall of Fame selection and first-round pick would fashion an impressive career record of 26-3-2, with top 4 finishes each of his last three seasons.

Gold Medal, 1973: This regular season finale at Miami, a 44-0 Irish victory, was significant for several reasons. One, it was the first 10-0 regular season finish under head coach Ara Parseghian in his 10 seasons with the Irish, and the first at the school since 1949. Parseghian had 9-0 starts in 1964 and 1970, only to lose at USC. He took special pride in writing “10-0” on the game ball. (This week, Brian Kelly could reach 10-0 for the third time in nine years at Notre Dame, and fourth time in 12 seasons.)

Second, it was played in Miami’s Orange Bowl, where exactly 11 months earlier the Irish experienced the Nebraska debacle, a 40-6 loss in the Orange Bowl, but had come full circle. Finally, long-time Irish assistant coach and Notre Dame mainstay Brian Boulac, who passed away this June, said that in Parseghian’s 11 seasons with the Irish, this was one of the most flawless performances he had seen against a quality team. Earlier in the year, Miami had upset Sports Illustrated pre-season No. 1 Texas (20-15) and took Oklahoma, which finished No. 3 that year, to the brink before losing 24-20.

Receiver Pete Demmerle scores twice on touchdown passes from Tom Clements while the Irish also pile up an astounding 448 yards rushing, led by fullback Wayne Bullock's 116 and Art Best's 92.

ACC Championship Game

So, given our track record the last few seasons related to game ratings, how big do you see the ratings going for a rematch between ND and Clemson? For the first time in pretty much ever, the ACC championship game will be the premier matchup that weekend (bigger than Alabama / Florida, and maybe even competitive with Northwestern / Indiana).

It'll also be interesting what kind of leverage a game like this would provide to ND if conversations about Football joining the ACC move forward.

Interesting times......

DAILY COVID-19 THREAD: Thursday, December 3

• All thoughts on COVID, statistics, speculation, updates, etc. should be posted in the daily thread.

• COVID threads that pop up separately on the board will be merged into our daily thread — with the exception of sports news items that are related to COVID (school testing updates, announcements, etc.). These can have their own threads but our staff has final discretion.

• As always, political posts – whether in the COVID thread or not – will be deleted.

No bad news on Notre Dame's end continues on football, but men's basketball already has had two games cancelled this week because of player shortage for the opposition.

Over the last three weeks, nearly 60 FBS games have been cancelled.

Why can't Lea be the one that changes the narrative...

If Dabo, Lincoln, and Day could all lead top tier programs without ever being a head coach. Why can't Lea? I know there is a different kind of pressure here, but isn't most of that now manufactured? We haven't won a NC in 32 years, what real pressure would he have? I personally don't think he need s to go earn his stripes as a head coach somewhere else. We want that because Faust, Davie, and Weis failed? So did Ty. Who gives a damn, these other guys are doing just fine at the biggest programs in the country at OU and OSU. Let's tell Lea now he's our guy when BK goes. Wouldn't that show great stability with recruiting? We all want that anyway, why do we need to let him leave as others suggest? It's a new time now, let's roll with it!
ADVERTISEMENT

Filter

ADVERTISEMENT