Category: Notre Dame Almanac

Notre Dame Prevelant in Awkwardly Bad All-Time Bowl List

Congrats to all at CFB for compiling a list, now maybe next time they can make it a somewhat-acceptable one.

Quick, off the top of your head what is your favorite memory of Notre Dame in a bowl game?

If you’re of a certain age it may be Jerome Bettis plowing through Florida’s defense en-route to an upset win in the Sugar Bowl.

Perhaps it was Joe Montana leading an inprobable comeback victory over Houston in the Cotton Bowl.

Or maybe it was Tom Clements finding Robin Weber to seal the deal against Alabama in the 1973 Sugar Bowl.

Did any of you immediately think of Notre Dame’s last-second win over LSU in the 2014 Music City Bowl?  If you thought of Notre Dame/LSU you probably thought of Miles Boykin, not the last-second field in Nashville.

The Football Bowl Association (FBA) came out with their 25 greatest bowl games of all-time this week, honoring 150 years of college football by putting together a list.

The only problem is I’m not sure those who put the list together actually watched more than a few of these games.

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The ’73 Sugar Bowl and ’79 Cotton Bowl were both legendary, whether you’re a Notre Dame fan or not.

How about that No. 17 ranking for the 2014 Music City Bowl, however?

Was it a fun game?  Sure.

Did it come down to a last-second kick?  Absolutely.

Was it at all legendary?

Uhh…

So if I’m going to rip this list at all I have to offer something to replace what I don’t like on it, right?

Where is the 2002 National Championship between Ohio State and Miami?

That two-overtime thriller that ended with a big-time upset after an incredibly controversial call led to it doesn’t belong in the top-25?

In terms of Notre Dame I think the 1991 Orange Bowl deserves to be on the list long before 2014’s Music City Bowl, even with the absurd flag that was thrown on Rocket Ismail’s punt return.

I could go on a while but you get the point.

Congrats to all at FBA for compiling a list, now maybe next time they can make it a somewhat-acceptable one.

Hayden Fry’s Coaching Tree Spread to South Bend for Decades

When you take a look you find the names of Bob, Mark and Mike Stoops, Bill Snyder, Kirk Ferentz and Bret Bielema along with plenty of others.

You’ll also find a pair of former Notre Dame defensive coordinators that led Notre Dame to their two most-recent national championship game appearances.

Former Iowa head coach, the legendary Hayden Fry died on Tuesday at the age of 90 after battling cancer.

Fry is best known for his 20 years as the head coach at Iowa where he took the Hawkeyes from being a Big Ten doormat to 14 bowl games including three appearances in the Rose Bowl.  Iowa has been back to Pasadena just once since his career ended following the 1998 season.

Notre Dame and Iowa haven’t met on the gridiron since October of 1968 so Fry never went head-to-head coaching against Notre Dame while with Iowa.

What you’ll hear many discuss when Fry is remembered is his flat-out ridiculous coaching tree.

When you take a look you find the names of Bob, Mark and Mike Stoops, Bill Snyder, Kirk Ferentz and Bret Bielema along with plenty of others.

You’ll also find a pair of former Notre Dame defensive coordinators that led Notre Dame to their two most-recent national championship game appearances.

Before getting to Notre Dame as part of Lou Holtz’s staff in 1987, Barry Alvarez was linebackers coach at Iowa for Fry from 1979-86, joining Fry’s staff after a brief but successful run as a head high school coach in Iowa.

Fry is said to have been upset when Alvarez left Iowa to work with Holtz but was even more enraged when Alvarez eventually took the Wisconsin job in 1990 and hired away a couple of Fry’s most valued assistants.

The other name you’ll see on Fry’s coaching tree that will be especially familiar for Notre Dame fans is that of Bob Diaco.

Diaco played for Fry from 1992-95, earning a spot on the All Big Ten second-team as a linebacker in 1995.  He also got his start in coaching as a grad-assistant under Fry in 1996 and ’97.

“Bob Diaco is one of the all-time great leaders I’ve had in 47 years of coaching” Fry said of Diaco in 2013.

Fry died Tuesday at the age of 90.

His career ended with a record of 232-178-6 with stops at SMU and North Texas (State) before landing at Iowa.  Fry was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003.

 

Notre Dame: Decade Challenge Fighting Irish Football Version

Previous to Kelly’s arrival you would have to count back all the way to 1991 if you wanted to count out all of Notre Dame’s victories over USC, a number Kelly was able to reach in just one decade.

While looking through Twitter on Monday afternoon I stumbled into a tweet from a fun follow, CFBTalkDaily.  They do a good job discussing the national news both on their feed and on their podcast and are worth a follow if you’re a part of that website.

They however asked a very simple question on Monday that I wanted to look a little further into instead of just give a simple yes or no.

Let’s examine this from the Notre Dame fan perspective for a bit, shall we?

It starts with coaching:

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All Decade Top 25: Notre Dame Good, Not Great

From a national perspective however, what is the biggest win Notre Dame had the last ten seasons?
At Oklahoma in 2012?

As the decade wraps up we’ll have more and more discussion as to the best this, that and the other in regards to college football.

Here on Fighting Irish Wire I’m working with contributor Jeff Feyerer on a ton of lists in regards to the last day decade that we’re excited to soon share and discuss with everyone of our loyal readers.

In the meantime, I stumbled into this list tonight – the top 25 programs of the decade.

I was curious how Notre Dame would rank and I think Berry Werner at Touchdown Wire did a pretty fine job.

No. 16 Notre Dame (91-37)

There are a lot of wins but the losses feel like they always come in the tougher games on the schedule, which has a load of soft spots. Brian Kelly has done a nice job getting the team to bounce back from off-years.

I have trouble arguing much with the ranking. For those curious Werner put the Irish one spot ahead of Michigan and one spot behind Michigan State.

For those curious Alabama was one while Ohio State, Clemson and Oklahoma all checked in just behind.

Oklahoma State was a little curiously ranked ahead of Notre Dame at 13 but it’s easy to forget how good their start of the decade was. It’s also hard to get to upset about a team who has won 10+ games six times in the window being ranked above, especially since they haven’t missed a bowl game since 2005 but for those interested, they have won just one more Big XII Championship in that time than Notre Dame.

Notre Dame has played for one national championship (and gotten destroyed) and made one College Football Playoff in that time, which alone gets them easily in the top-25.

From a national perspective however, what is the biggest win Notre Dame had the last ten seasons?

At Oklahoma in 2012?

Taking Florida State to the wire in 2014 or Clemson to the gun in 2015? Heartbreaking thrillers sure, but still losses.

They’ve had a seat at the table but until they knock off one of these top-five or so teams the perception will remain.

The good news however is that if you were to simply do this same top 25 over the last three seasons how many teams would come ahead of Notre Dame?

Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Oklahoma and who else?

It’s the looks of a very good program on the cusp of joining the elites but until that top-five or so matchup is won, you won’t see many chirping for the Irish to be seen in quite the same class.

Notre Dame Football: The Rocket Takes Off for Hall

I don’t know the rules of getting into the hall like I said, all I know is that Ismail is a guy you let in on the first day he’s eligible. 

I’ll start by saying getting into the College Football Hall of Fame is weird.

Need proof?

Raghib Ismail, “The Rocket”, perhaps the most exciting player to wear Notre Dame’s blue and gold since WWII was not officially a member until Tuesday night.

There are rules dependent on what you accomplish in college, what you retire from professional football and whatever else. The fact of the matter is you don’t have a College Football Hall of Fame if “The Rocket” isn’t in his first day of eligibility.

A member of the 1988 national championship team, a 1990 All American and the runner-up to Ty Detmer in the Heisman Trophy voting, Ismail went in with 14 other new members Tuesday night.

For the life of me I still don’t understand how a system quarterback in Ty Detmer beat out a legend but so-be-it. I guess that’s just like how Jason White beat out Larry Fitzgerald 13 years later.

I don’t know the rules of getting into the hall like I said, all I know is that Ismail is a guy you let in on the first day he’s eligible. If not your voters or rules, or both, stink.

Whatever the case – I’m glad he’s finally in a place he deserves.

Now enjoy some of his insane highlights from his three years at Notre Dame:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nwIe-trahs&w=560&h=315]

Notre Dame Football Well Represented on ESPN’s Top 150 Coaches List

Knute Rockne was the highest former Fighting Irish coach to make the list, coming in at three. He trails only Paul Bryant and Nick Saban on the list.

In honor of 150 years of College Football, ESPN and other publications have been releasing their lists of greatest all-time everything this year.

Earlier we went over the 150 greatest games list and the incredible games Notre Dame contributed to that list both good and bad.

Today ESPN released their rankings of the 150 greatest coaches in college football history.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Notre Dame is again well represented.

First up – “Rock”

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Notre Dame Football: We’ve Got a Forum!

We have launched a forum for exactly that and it costs you nothing to be a contributing part of the message board.

Hey you.

Yeah, you.

Have you been looking for somewhere other than Facebook or Twitter to share your thoughts about your favorite college sports team?

Good news.

We have launched a forum for exactly that and it costs you nothing to be a contributing part of the message board.

Mad about last night’s game?

Have a best guess on who the bowl opponent will be?

Or do you need to vent because your favorite player isn’t getting the respect they deserve nationally?

Now you’ve got a community to share all of your thoughts on all things Notre Dame athletics.

Simply go to our Fighting Irish Forum, create an entirely free account and start posting your thoughts immediately.  It’s as easy as that!

We hope to see you and your thoughts over there soon.

Thanks and Go Irish!

Former Notre Dame Running Back George Atkinson III Dead at 27

When I think of George Atkinson, III I think of an explosive play-maker who had absolutely mind-blowing speed.  His kickoff returns against Michigan State and USC in 2011 immediately come to mind while he had plenty of other huge runs during his three seasons.

Sad news out late Monday night that former Notre Dame running back and speedy return-man George Atkinson, III has died at the age of 27.

Atkinson’s twin brother Josh, also a former Notre Dame football player died unexpectedly last year.

George Atkinson III played for the Irish from 2011-2013, rushing for 10 touchdowns and returning two kickoffs for scores, both occurring in 2011.

Atkinson left for the NFL after his junior year, where he’d spend time with the Oakland Raiders, Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs.

When I think of George Atkinson, III I think of an explosive play-maker who had absolutely mind-blowing speed.  His kickoff returns against Michigan State and USC in 2011 immediately come to mind while he had plenty of other huge runs during his three seasons.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeAQGPqxgKs&w=560&h=315]

All the best to the Atkinson family and their friends in what has to have been an incredibly difficult year.

Stanford A Decade Long House of Horrors for Notre Dame

There haven’t been many more painful losses in Brian Kelly’s now ten-year run than what happened to conclude the 2015 regular season.

Forget that.

There haven’t been many more painful losses for Notre Dame in the almost 30 years I’ve been watching as the regular season finale in 2015 was.

The Notre Dame versus Stanford rivalry for The Legends Trophy has had some iconic moments for Notre Dame.

The Goal Line Stand in 2012:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpK7QUG3cbE&w=560&h=315]

Ben Koyack in 2014:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDUvS88s_cY&w=560&h=315]

Dexter Williams 2018 Debut:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZLXify02xY&w=560&h=315]

Unfortunately for Notre Dame these moments have been few and far between in odd-numbered years, when the Irish finish their regular season on the west-coast.

Notre Dame leads the all-time series against Stanford 19-13 (2012 being vacated) but hasn’t won at Stanford since the forgettable 2007 campaign that came to forgiving end with a rather forgettable 21-14 win at Stanford.

We’ve got all week still to get set for a regular season conclusion at Stanford, who has been incredibly disappointing this season, but let’s take a quick moment to look back on the five-straight Notre Dame has lost at Stanford, a trend they hope to finally end in the Brian Kelly era this Saturday.

First up:  2009 – Charlie’s Last Stand

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No. 16 Notre Dame Blasts Boston College: A Few Good Numbers

Kmet’s sixth touchdown reception of the year also joined him with Ken MacAfee for the school record for most in a single season by a tight end.

40-7 has a good ring to it as Notre Dame routed Boston College and moved to 9-2 on the year. In our Five Instant Thoughts piece after the game we discussed some of the bizarreness in terms of Notre Dame’s incredibly evenly disturbed offensive production.

What other numbers are worth taking a second look at after the blowout victory.

Cole Kmet:

Became the tenth tight end in Notre Dame history with 400 or more receiving yards in a single season and the first to do so since Troy Niklas in 2013.

Kmet’s sixth touchdown reception of the year also joined him with Ken MacAfee for the school record for most in a single season by a tight end.

Chase Claypool:

Claypool’s touchdown reception against Boston College was his tenth of the season and sixteenth for his career. No player has reached the 10-plus touchdown reception mark since Will Fuller in 2015, while his latest touchdown reception tied him with Jim Seymour for the tenth-most by a receiver in Notre Dame history.

Going Streaking:

In completing their second-straight undefeated home season the Irish are now winners of their last 18 home contests. It marks the first time since the 1988-89 seasons that Notre Dame went unbeaten at home in consecutive seasons.

With Saturday’s 40-7 win over Boston College the Irish won their third straight game by 30 or more points for the first time since 1989 when they beat up Pitt, Navy and SMU in consecutive games.