October 15

October 15.  It brings up some emotions.  If I had been old enough to appreciate October 15, 1988, it probably would have been the greatest day of my life.  Number 4 Notre Dame was hosting number 1 Miami in the afternoon.  Catholics vs. Convicts.  But of course, as Lou Holtz said, “They called it ‘Catholics vs. Convicts.’ I didn’t like that. Because not everyone on our team was Catholic.”  It was the fifth game the two teams had played in six years.  In the previous four games, Miami won all four by a combined score of 133-20.  Wow.  I hadn’t even realized that until I started working on this post.  But this day would be different.  It started with the pregame fight and Lou’s pregame speech (Rocket Ismail's version is the best, see the first video below).  Miami scored with 45 seconds left to make it 31-30.  Pat Terrell batted down the pass to preserve the win for the Irish, who would go on to win the National Championship.

The day was just getting started.  It was Game 1 of the World Series at night.  The A’s led 4-3 at Dodger Stadium with the best relief pitcher in baseball on the mound for the ninth.  Dennis Eckersley got the first two guys out.  Baseball Reference says that the A’s had a 96% chance of winning at that point.  But Mike Davis drew a walk, which brought up Kirk Gibson as a pinch hitter.  He hit a 3-2 slider out to win the game for the Dodgers and they would go on to win the World Series in five games.  This is probably my second sports memory.  My first is going to Shea Stadium in September 1988 for a Dodgers-Mets game that was rained out.  I probably didn’t watch Gibson’s home run live.  In fact, I might not have watched any of that World Series live.  But I do remember knowing that it happened.

I had no knowledge of Notre Dame-Miami in 1988 and as I said, I probably didn’t watch Gibson’s home run when it happened.  But I do remember another October 15 much better.  It was ten years ago today.  Number 9 Notre Dame against number 1 USC at Notre Dame Stadium.  USC had won 27 games in a row.*  Miami’s regular season winning streak had been 36 until we beat them in 1988.  Tyrone Willingham had lost to USC three straight years by 31 points each year (he was consistent).  But with a new coach, we completely believed that we were going to win (it's hard to believe a Charlie Weis team played as well is we did that day).  I thought I knew the formula.  Charlie Weis was on Bill Parcells’s staff for Super Bowl XXV when the Giants upset the Bills.  The Giants dominated time of possession (40:33-19:27) and showed the Bills a defense they had never seen before (a 2-3 instead of their usual 3-4).  I also said that we'd win if we didn’t turn the ball over.  Not turning the ball over went out the window early as Brady Quinn threw an interception on our second possession.  Anthony Fasano had a big fumble deep in USC territory in the third quarter.  We did dominate time of possession, though (38:40-21:20).  But we did not show USC a defense that they hadn’t seen before.

Here’s what I remember about the first three quarters of that game (perhaps not in chronological order):  Seeing the grass blow in the wind because we had let it grow so long to slow down USC’s players.  Brady Quinn’s interception early.  Tom Zbikowski’s punt return.  Reggie Bush being the best player on the field.**  Chanting “Ballroom Dancing” after at least one of Matt Leinart’s two interceptions.  Anthony Fasano’s fumble.  Jeff Samardzija’s touchdown.

We took a 21-14 lead on Tom Zbikowski’s punt return touchdown in the second quarter.  USC tied it in the third.  We kicked a field goal to go up 24-21, but then Reggie Bush** ran for a touchdown to give USC the lead with 5:09 to play.  I was still confident.  I remember telling people that the Legend of Brady Quinn was about to start.  And he did lead a beautiful drive.  He scored on a quarterback draw with 2:04 left to put us up 31-28.  I remember thinking that we might have scored too quickly.

USC got the ball back.  Leinart threw an incomplete pass and then was sacked by Trevor Laws for a loss of ten.  On third and 20, Leinart completed an eleven yard pass to Reggie Bush**.  It was fourth and nine.  We were one play away from winning the game.  And then everything went wrong.  Leinart completed a 61 yard pass to Dwayne Jarrett that Ambrose Wooden was so close to breaking up.  Wooden caught him and made the tackle at the Notre Dame 13.  Obviously, he had to try to stop him from scoring, but we actually would have been better off if Jarrett had scored.  But we still had a chance.  An incomplete pass and two Reggie Bush** runs gave USC a first down at the Notre Dame 2.

Everybody remembers the Bush** Push two plays later, but it was the play before USC scored that still kills me.  Leinart scrambled and fumbled.  The clock ticked down to zero and I was among the students that stormed the field.  I saw Leinart’s fumble go out of bounds and I figured that time would be put back on the clock, but I wasn’t going to not storm the field when everybody was.  Of course, they put seven seconds on the clock and Bush** pushed Leinart into the end zone to give USC the win.  But let’s think about what could have happened when Leinart was hit on the play before:

Leinart holds on to the ball:  clock expires.
Leinart fumbles the ball in bounds and Notre Dame recovers:  we take a knee and the game is over.
Leinart fumbles the ball in bounds and USC recovers:  clock expires.
Leinart fumbles the ball out of the end zone:  touchback, we take a knee, game over.

All of those things would resulted in us winning the game.  Instead, the fumble went out at the one and stopped the clock.  USC benefitted from fumbling.  That’s what always killed me about the end of the game.

As for the push, I can’t get too upset about it.  Bush** had to try it.  They lose if he doesn’t.  If Darius Walker had done it to Brady Quinn, there’s no way that penalty gets called against Notre Dame in Notre Dame Stadium (well, maybe Big Ten officials would have called it).  I don’t even remember if I saw that play.  I was on the sideline in front of the student section after being ushered off the field.

I had my dad tape the game.  I rewatched it later, but I could only watch one quarter at a time.  It was too much to take all at once.  Even watching the highlights today was difficult.  I always said I needed to be there in person for us beating USC to get over that game.  In some ways, beating them in 2012 with a spot in the National Championship Game on the line for us was enough.  And I was there in 2013 for a win over USC (a really crappy game for both teams, but we won).  But I’ve only been to one other game that was comparable in terms of being a big game and we got blown out.  That’s what I still want to see in person.  I need to see a good to great Notre Dame team beat a great opponent (preferably USC, but I’ll take anybody).

So the Dodgers play another big game on October 15 tonight (the other thing I need to see is the Dodgers winning a World Series, but I’ll settle for watching that one on TV).  Notre Dame has another matchup with USC on Saturday.  Hopefully both will go my way.  Go Dodgers!  Go Irish!

*Wins 21-27 of that streak never happened.
**It must be noted that Reggie Bush was a professional football player playing college football.