There’s not much going on. We’ve gone over a month without sports. I’m trying to watch as many classic Notre Dame, Dodger, and Celtic games as possible. Notre Dame has streamed games on the last four Saturdays on YouTube. This was the first one from my time as a student so it was time to break out the running diary. It was UCLA at Notre Dame. Apparently we were favored by two touchdowns. UCLA came in at 4-2 and we were 5-1. I remember thinking we should win easily, but this would be my last opportunity to see a competitive game at Notre Dame Stadium as a student. The only home games we had left after UCLA were North Carolina and Army teams that both finished 3-9. Here we go:
7:41- I put the game on just a little late. It’s still the first minute of the game and the first play I see is a Darius Walker fumble recovered by UCLA.
7:42- Next we have offsides on Notre Dame and we get our first shot of Charlie Weis.
7:43- As they show the Notre Dame defensive starters, Tom Hammond just mentioned Ronald Talley quitting the team. People make all sorts of shirts for Notre Dame football. My favorite one said “Play Like Ronald Talley Today” with a picture of him looking intimidating. Unfortunately, he was not a very good player.
7:47- UCLA made a field goal, but a false start pushed it back five yards and then they missed.
7:49- David Grimes, or “Grimey” as he likes to be called, makes a catch, but he’s tackled short of the first down and Notre Dame goes three and out.
7:53- UCLA goes for it on fourth down on their side of the 50, but they’re stuffed on a quarterback sneak.
7:55- Brady Quinn just overthrew Rhema McKnight after faking the end around. It would have been a touchdown.
7:57- On third and one Notre Dame lines up in a strange formation with Brady Quinn crouched directly behind the center and two gentlemen lined up behind Quinn in the backfield. What year is this?
7:59- Quinn completes a play action pass on 4th and 1 to John Carlson for 24 yards. That puts Quinn over 10,000 yards passing in his career. I lived in the same dorm as John Carlson. He was also a history major so I had a few classes with him. I definitely didn’t know him well at all, but he seemed like a good guy. He had a few nice years in the NFL. He scored 15 touchdowns in his career and made almost $15 million. I always rooted for him. Unfortunately he had to play for Pete Carroll for two years.
8:01- Quinn completes a play action pass to Jeff Samardzija in the back of the end zone and the extra point is good. Notre Dame goes up 7-0.
8:03- Terrail Lambert picks off a pass. It was a shaky start, but now we’ve got things going.
8:06- Or maybe not. We go three and out.
8:11- I just checked the schedule of games Notre Dame has been showing. This is the fourth week. I didn’t watch 2015 Texas, which was the first game. That was a very fun game. I’ve watched the last three weeks. The second game was 1993 Florida State. How was that not the first game? It showed how ridiculous Florida State getting voted National Champions that season was. Our crime was that we lost later than they did. If we had lost early in the season, we win the National Championship. But we both finished with one loss and we beat them. And we didn’t just beat them, we dominated that game. Yes, it was only seven points, but it wasn’t really that close. We were up by 14 and then Florida State scored a lucky touchdown on 4th and 20 with 1:39 left (it hit a Notre Dame safety in the hands and popped up right to a Florida State receiver). And then we beat a very good team in a major bowl to finish the season. Then last week was the 1992 Penn State snow game. Next week is 2019 Virginia Tech. That’s a game that’s kind of similar to this one. But if I was making my list of games to show, this game and the Virginia Tech game would not have been too high on my list. I assume they’ll keep doing this, but they haven’t announced anything beyond the Virginia Tech game. I’ll end this post with the games I would want to see that they haven’t shown yet.
8:15- UCLA just had their longest reception of the season for a wide receiver with a 54-yard catch and run for a touchdown. The extra point is good and the game is tied early in the second quarter.
8:21- Brady Quinn just got sacked for a big loss and 2006 Heisman Trophy contender Geoff Price is on to punt.
8:27- Yeah, that one drive looked nice, but now we’re not moving the ball at all on offense. Geoff Price is on to punt again.
8:28- And it’s a bad one. UCLA will have good field position.
8:30- A guy who was a converted defensive lineman just scored on a long catch and run. There was some bad tackling from Notre Dame on that play. The extra point is good and UCLA is up 14-7.
8:38- Brady Quinn sneaks for a first down on 4th and 1 near midfield.
8:40- We get a John Carlson montage and they compare Carlson in 2006 to Anthony Fasano in 2005 during a timeout.
8:42- Darius Walker comes up an inch or two short on 3rd and 2.
8:44- Brady Quinn sneaks for a first down.
8:46- Munir Prince is in the backfield. If you’re a Notre Dame fan since the Charlie Weis days, I’ll let you make your own joke here. The snap is fumbled, but we get it back.
8;48- We get a Brady Quinn montage.
8:49- Quinn takes the snap under center with an empty backfield on third down and tries to go straight up the middle, but he’s stopped.
8:50- We kick a short field goal on the last play of the half to make it 14-10.
8:52- I just realized that Kyle was on the team for this game. I haven’t been paying attention to see if you can see him on the sideline at all.
8:53- Brady Quinn had 100 yards passing on 19 attempts in the first half. It wasn’t a pretty half other than one drive.
9:01- Brady Quinn just pooch punted, but it went into the end zone. I just looked up his stats and that was the second and final punt of his college career. In 2005 he punted once for 48 yards.
9:02- UCLA fumbled the snap and Trevor Laws recovers it for Notre Dame. I’ll always be grateful for Trevor Laws for being the one bright spot of the 2007 season. We were terrible, but he was really good that year. I remember sitting at the Penn State game in 2007 with Wilhelm and the Penn State fans were commenting on how the PA guy kept calling his name.
9:06- We just missed a long field goal. I need a beer. I’m drinking a Sam Adams Cold Snap. When this all started, I figured out that I could ration my beer and make it last to the end of April. I have several bottles of wine that I’ve gotten as gifts, but I don’t drink wine. I was hoping I could figure something out rather than starting to drink wine. Of course, I could go out and buy beer, but I’ve been having all of the groceries delivered and I can’t get beer delivered from grocery stores. Local breweries do deliver, but I would have to order over the phone and they say they require age verification upon delivery. I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t really check IDs these days, but I just wanted beer to show up at my house without interacting with another person. And then an ad showed up on Facebook for Beer Drop. They offer subscriptions where you pick styles that you like and then they send you a certain amount of beer of the styles that you like. But you can also just browse the beers available and order whatever you want. It’s pretty expensive, but they do have some cheaper options. And it’s all craft beer so I’m assuming even the cheaper options are decent. So I ordered 12 beers. I got two expensive beers (they were 32 ounce cans, but still expensive) and the rest were cheap (the cheap ones were 12 ounce cans). They’re supposed to be delivered this week. I really hope I can go out and buy some Summer Ale soon, but until then, I’ll rely on Beer Drop.
9:17- Jeff Samardzija just moved into 3rd place all time for receptions at Notre Dame.
9:19- Samardzija just had a nice catch and run that would have made it first and goal, but it is called back because of holding.
9:21- Because I didn’t remember what happened, I was ready to make fun of Charlie Weis for going for it on 4th and 6 when we were easily within field goal range, but Darius Walker catches a swing pass and gets a first down.
9:24- We settle for a field goal from 33 yards to make it 14-13.
9:37- Geoff Price punts again after Brady Quinn was sacked on third down. Let’s just say that Notre Dame’s offensive linemen in the first decade of this century were not as good as their offensive linemen in the second decade of this century.
9:40- Tom Zbikowski got some good pressure on a blitz and forced an incomplete pass. He was not returning punts in this game. Did he not do that in 2006? Because he was really good at it in 2005.
9:42- I just looked it up. He returned 27 punts in 2005 and 16 in 2006. He scored four defensive/special teams touchdowns in 2005 and two in 2006.
9:48- UCLA kicks a field goal to make it 17-13 with 7:19 left.
9:50- The clock was just running before the first play of the drive. What up with that? I remember one year where there was a weird rule where the clock started as soon as the ball was kicked. But the clock was always stopped before the first play of the drive, right?
9:51- Geoff Price punts again. UCLA has a chance to put this game away with 6:05 left.
9:54- UCLA punts and Notre Dame takes over with 3:49 left.
9:55- Again, the clock started before the first snap with the drive. What was going on here?
9:56- Brady Quinn picks up a first down on 3rd and 1 with a sneak.
9:58- Grimes makes a catch for nine yards on 3rd and 10 and then Brady Quinn is stopped on a sneak on 4th and 1. UCLA takes over on downs with 2:20 to play.
10:00- We just took a timeout to keep the clock from starting. Tom Hammond and Pat Haden just said something about a new rule starting the clock on a change of possession. I don’t remember this at all.
10:01- UCLA gets nothing on a first down run.
10:03- It’s a gain of three on second down and we call our second timeout.
10:04- UCLA loses yards on third down. Travis Thomas made the tackle. He was a running back who played linebacker in 2006.
10:05- I didn’t remember much about this game until this point. I do remember UCLA taking a delay of game before punting and I remember saying to Greg in the student section that I thought it was dumb at the time (Pat Haden just said it was a good delay of game). By taking a delay of game there, you’re saying that one second is more important than five yards. We needed a touchdown, you make us go as far as possible to get it. Don’t give us five free yards.
10:07- We get called for holding on the punt and UCLA decides to punt again.
10:08- The second punt goes into the end zone and we take over on our own 20 with no timeouts left and 1:02 to play. Quinn passes to Samardzija for 21 yards on the first play of the drive.
10:09- Grimes makes a catch for 14 on the next play. We’re into UCLA territory.
10:10- On the third play of the drive, Quinn finds Samardzija around the 30 yard line and he takes it the rest of the way to give us the lead with 27 seconds left. UCLA just gave up 80 yards in 35 seconds. That’s impressive.
10:12- This was the season where the clock started as soon as the ball was kicked. I don’t remember it starting before the first play of the possession. UCLA runs one play, we get a sack, and the game is over.
Since they only have the rights to home games since the NBC contract started, here are the games I’d like to see that haven’t been shown yet. I’ll put my top 10 choices in bold.
Lou Holtz Era
1992 Boston College- We were ranked 8th and they were ranked 9th and we won 54-7 (that’s exactly how things should be when we play Boston College).
1995 Texas- We were ranked 21st and they were ranked 13th and we won 55-27.
1995 USC- We were ranked 17th and they were ranked 5th and we spanked them 38-10. There really aren’t that many interesting games from the Holtz/NBC era other than the two they’ve already shown.
Bob Davie Era
1998 Michigan- We were ranked 22nd. And they were ranked 5th and we outscored them 30-7 in the second half and won 36-20. Tom Brady was the quarterback and we sacked him thrice. Michigan fumbled four times and lost two, but the one box score I found didn’t indicate if any of those fumbles were by Brady.
Tyrone Willingham Era
2002 Michigan- We were ranked 20th and they were ranked 7th and we won 25-23.
2004 Michigan- We were unbanked and they were ranked 8th and we won 28-20.
Charlie Weis Era- the only reason that I have so many from the Weis Era is that it includes my years as a student.
2005 BYU- We won 49-23. BYU wasn’t very good, but Brady Quinn and Maurice Stovall had huge games and this was my first home win as a student.
2005 Tennessee- We won 41-21. Tennessee came into the season highly ranked, but they were unranked by the time of this game. I just remember it being a fun game.
2006 Penn State- We were ranked 4th and Penn State was ranked 19th. Won 41-17. We actually dominated more than that score makes it sound. We thought we were on our way to a great season.
2006 Army- This was the legendary Kyle Charters game. We won 41-9 in my last game as a student.
2008 Michigan- We were both unranked and we had a nice solid 35-17 win. Let’s be honest, this wouldn’t be on the list if it wasn’t Michigan.
2009 Michigan State- We were both unranked and we won 33-30. This game is famous for the Golden Tate Band Jump. Michigan State had been having way too much success against us and we beat them.
2009 Washington- We were both unranked (this was a theme after the first two years of the Weis Era) and we won 37-30 in overtime. I was at this game and it was a fun one.
The Brian Kelly Era
2010 Utah- We were unranked and Utah was ranked 15th and we won 28-3. Our season was not going well at all, but this turned it around and we had a nice finish to Kelly’s first year.
2010 Army- We were both unranked and we won 27-3. Why is this game on here? It was Notre Dame and Army in Yankee Stadium. I was there for the game and I just pretended that it was 1943, 1946, or 1947. Also it was the last time that we didn’t wear ridiculous uniforms for the Shamrock Series.
2012 Michigan- We were ranked 11th and they were ranked 18th and we won 13-6. It wasn’t the prettiest, but I was at this game and our defense was great and this is when I started dreaming in 2012. https://yearofjim.blogspot.com/2012/09/one-of-best-weekends-of-my-life.html
2012 Stanford- We were ranked 7th and they were ranked 17th and we won 20-13 in overtime after a goal line stand. As far as I’m concerned, they can show the whole 2012 home schedule, but this one was a classic. https://yearofjim.blogspot.com/2012/10/another-great-saturday.html
2012 Pittsburgh- We were ranked 4th and they were unranked and we survived 29-26 in triple overtime. I watched this game at a sports bar because I didn’t have cable after Hurricane Sandy. This one was not pretty at all and we probably should have lost, but I just had a feeling we’d find a way to win.
2012 Wake Forest- We were ranked 3rd and they were unranked and we beat them 38-0 on senior day. This was a magical day. We won in the afternoon and then Kansas State and Oregon lost at night to vault us to number 1. It was probably my favorite day as a Notre Dame football fan (I started rooting for Notre Dame when I went to college in 2002, but I didn’t become a serious fan until I transferred there so I wasn’t following in the Holtz glory days), but the fact that both Oregon and Kansas State lost meant that we had to play Alabama and not one of them for the National Championship. https://yearofjim.blogspot.com/2012/11/number-1.html
2013 Michigan State- We were ranked 22nd and they were unranked and we won 17-13. We didn’t know it at the time, but that Michigan State team was really good. They finished the season 13-1 and ranked number 3.
2014 Michigan- We were ranked 16th and they were unranked and we won 31-0 (but really 37-0). This game was Brian VanGorder’s finest moment (and then he turned out to be a disaster.
2014 Stanford- We were ranked 9th and they were ranked 14th and we won 17-14 on a late Everett Golson to Ben Koyack touchdown pass on 4th and 11. I was at this game and the weather was terrible, but it was awesome being there (that’s the last win I’ve been to at Notre Dame Stadium because I’ve only been to one football game on campus since then and that one definitely doesn’t make this list). https://yearofjim.blogspot.com/2014/10/my-favorite-college-football-games.html
2015 USC- We were ranked 14th and they were unranked and we won 41-31. The last USC game I went to was in 2013 and we won that one, but that was so ugly that it isn’t worth watching again. This was a fun victory over USC.
2017 USC- We were ranked 13th and they were ranked 11th and we won 49-14. I wish I was at that one.
2018 Michigan- We were ranked 14th and they were ranked 12th and we won 24-17 (but really it wasn’t that close).
2018 Stanford- We were ranked 8th and they were ranked 7th and we won 38-17.
2019 Navy- We were ranked 16th and they were ranked 23rd and we won 52-20. I’ve been to more games against Navy than any other team (we’re supposed to play them in Ireland in August and that’s probably not going to happen but I was there when we played them in Dublin in 2012), but I wasn’t there for this one. I figured I should have one Navy game on the list. This was the first time since 1963 that Navy came to Notre Dame stadium ranked (their last win over us before the winning streak that we never should have allowed to end in 2007). They also finished ranked 20th. The only other time since 1963 that we hosted a Navy team that finished the season ranked was in 2017.
What if we could just rewatch any game regardless of what network it aired on? I’m not going back before Ara Parseghian because you’re just not going to have good quality broadcasts available. To simplify things, if it’s before I was born, I’m only considering National Championship seasons (with one exception).
The Ara Parseghian Era
1966 Purdue- We were ranked 8th and they were ranked 7th and we won 26-14.
1966 USC- We were ranked 1st and they were ranked 10th and we finished a National Championship season with a 51-0 win.
1973 USC- We were ranked 8th and they were ranked 6th and we won 23-14
December 31, 1973 Sugar Bowl vs. Alabama- We were ranked 3rd and they were ranked 1st and we won 24-23. We both went into the game undefeated, we won, and Alabama still claims this as a National Championship.
The Dan Devine Era
1977 USC- We were ranked 11th and they were ranked 5th and we won 49-19 in the Green Jersey Game.
January 2, 1978 Cotton Bowl vs. Texas- We were ranked 5th and they were ranked 1st and we won 38-10 and vaulted ourselves to a National Championship.
January 1, 1979 Cotton Bowl vs. Houston- We were ranked 10th and they were ranked 9th and we won 35-34. Joe Montana led us back from 22 points down in the fourth quarter in the Chicken Soup Game.
The Lou Holtz Era
1988 Michigan- We were ranked 13th and they were ranked 9th and we won 19-17.
1988 Miami- We were ranked 4th and they were ranked 1st and we won 31-30 on the greatest day of my life (I didn’t know it at the time). Kirk Gibson hit his home run to win Game 1 of the World Series later that day.
1988 USC- We were ranked 1st and they were ranked 2nd (we were both undefeated) and we won 27-10 to finish the regular season.
January 2, 1989 Fiesta Bowl vs. West Virginia- We were ranked 1st and they were ranked 3rd (we were both undefeated) and we won 34-21 to wrap up the National Championship.
1989 Michigan- We were ranked 1st and they were ranked 2nd and we won 24-19 behind Rocket Ismail’s two kickoff returns for touchdowns.
January 1, 1990 Orange Bowl vs. Colorado- We were ranked 4th and they were ranked 4th and we won 21-6. If Florida State won the National Championship in 1993, there’s a strong argument to be made that we deserved it in 1989. Now we didn’t deserve it in 1989, but Florida State didn’t deserve it in 1993. The correct logic that prevented us winning it in 1989 was not used in 1993.
1990 Miami- We were ranked 6th and they were ranked 2nd and we won 29-20.
January 1, 1993 Cotton Bowl vs. Texas A&M- We were ranked 5th and they were ranked 4th and we won 28-3.
January 1, 1994 Cotton Bowl vs. Texas A&M- We were ranked 4th (absurd) and they were ranked 7th and we won 24-21. Sadly, this is still our last major bowl win.
The Brian Kelly Era
2010 USC- We were both unranked and we won 20-16. It was a good way to finish Brian Kelly’s first regular season and it was our first win against USC after losing eight straight against them. Watching Robert Hughes run over USC defenders on the go ahead drive late in the fourth quarter is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. I needed that win.
2012 Oklahoma- We were ranked 5th and they were ranked 8th and we won 30-13. Manti Te’o was awesome. It was close until the fourth quarter. And it’s easily Brian Kelly’s best road win. https://yearofjim.blogspot.com/2012/10/some-probably-incoherent-thoughts-after.html
2012 USC- We were ranked number 1 and they were unranked and we won 22-13 to put us into the National Championship Game. If it was like the old days when they just decided the National Champion after the regular season, we would have wrapped up a National Championship. https://yearofjim.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-great-weekend.html
January 1, 2018 Citrus Bowl vs. LSU- We were ranked 14th and they were ranked 16th and we won 21-17. It was a solid bowl win against a good team, but it wasn’t a major bowl. Still, it’s our best bowl win in way too long.
2018 USC- We were ranked 3rd and they were unranked and we won 24-17 to make it to our first College Football Playoff. It was an ugly first half, but it was a really good second half. Beating USC to finish an undefeated regular season is always good. https://yearofjim.blogspot.com/2018/12/playoffs-are-you-kidding-me.html
This has gotten very long. Here’s a final ranking of the top 20 games I’d want to Notre Dame stream that they haven’t done already (1993 Florida State would have easily been in the top 5 on this list):
20. 1992 Boston College
19. 1995 USC
18. 2013 Michigan State
17. 2006 Penn State
16. 2014 Stanford
15. 1998 Michigan
14. January 1, 1994 Cotton Bowl vs. Texas A&M
13. 2017 USC
12. 2014 Michigan
11. 1988 Michigan
10. 2018 Michigan
9. January 2, 1978 Cotton Bowl vs. Texas
8. 2012 Oklahoma
7. 2012 USC
6. 1977 USC
5. 1966 USC
4. 2012 Stanford
3. 1988 USC
2. December 31, 1973 Sugar Bowl vs. Alabama
1. 1988 Miami
