Notre Dame has been doing a great job keeping us entertained with plenty of old classics to watch during our respective quarantines. Saturday they dip into that bag yet again with a memorable comeback victory from an otherwise pretty forgettable season.
1999 saw Notre Dame go just 5-7 after being within a regular season finale win at USC of going to a BCS bowl game. Instead, Notre Dame lost that game with no Jarious Jackson at quarterback as he was injured and that, coupled with a bowl loss to Georgia Tech seemed to only slow things headed towards 1999.
Notre Dame started the year by blowing out Kansas before consecutive losses at Michigan, Purdue and to Michigan State. A comeback win over Oklahoma to start October before blowing out Arizona State got the Irish back to .500 when USC came a calling in mid-October.
Saturday cannot be here fast enough!
Relive the 1999 matchup against USC. Join the conversation right here on twitter using the hashtag #NDWatchParty.
📍 Your Place.
📺 https://t.co/TfzJ0Mmrlk
📆 Saturday
⏰ 7:30 p.m. ET #GoIrish pic.twitter.com/YlXh4XSXQr— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) May 7, 2020
Having lost three straight to USC, Notre Dame sure was looking like it was going to be a fourth consecutive defeat at the hands of the Trojans as they trailed 24-3 early in the third quarter.
A few Trojans mishaps led to Notre Dame scores before Jackson eventually fumbled into the endzone, only to have tight end Jabari Halloway land on the loose ball to give the Irish the 25-24 lead with just over two minutes remaining at a rain-soaked Notre Dame Stadium.
The win moved Notre Dame to 4-3 on the season before a victory over Navy got the Irish to five a week later. That was unfortunately all the wins Notre Dame would find that fall though, losing the final four games to Tennessee, Pitt, Boston College and Stanford to finish just 5-7. It was their first losing season since Lou Holtz’s debut year when the Irish went 5-6 in 1986.
USC would finish just 6-6, missing a bowl game as well in what was the second of three seasons with Paul Hackett guiding the ship. He’d be fired after the 2000 season and be replaced by some guy named Pete Carroll.
Enjoy one of the few bright spots from the fall of 1999 Saturday night by watching on YouTube and tweeting along using #NDWatchParty.