When you think of the 1986 Notre Dame football team you think of Lou Holtz’s first season that started with a near-upset of highly ranked Michigan before some trials and turbulations eventually ended in a 5-6 campaign. It was that final game though, the fifth win that was so memorable and helped turn the tide of the Notre Dame football program.
Taking on No. 17 USC in the Colisuem to close the year, 4-6 Notre Dame trailed by 17 in the fourth quarter before rallying behind quarterback Steve Beuerlein and the following season’s Heisman Trophy winner, Tim Brown. They put the Irish in position to complete the comeback before John Carney sealed the deal.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Xnqy0VXMPw?start=345&w=560&h=315]
John Carney punched the kick through as time expired and Notre Dame won, 38-37 over their biggest rival. It didn’t get the Irish to a bowl game but it did end the season on a high note and for Carney as his final kick for the Irish was a walk-off winner.
Carney gets remembered for being one of the longest tenured legs in the NFL but looking back at his Notre Dame numbers leave a little to be desired. After making 17 of 19 field goals and all 25 extra point attempts in 1984, he made just 34 of 50 field goal attempts the next two seasons and missed five extra points.
He did however nail that short field goal against USC that ended 1986 and his Notre Dame career on a positive note. Two years later those two would meet as the top two teams in the country in a game that sent Notre Dame to the Fiesta Bowl and eventual national championship.
Carney would go on to a great NFL career, playing for eight different franchises between 1987 and 2010, when as a New Orleans Saint he became the third-oldest player to compete in an NFL game. Carney was voted an NFL All-Pro in 1994 and went to a pair of Pro Bowls.
The former Notre Dame and longtime NFL kicker turns 56 today so happy birthday greetings to the man who helped knock off the Trojans and start Lou Holtz’s run of terror on Troy in 1986.