Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Hear from the reigning ACC regular-season champs.
Notre Dame is hoping to repeat and even improve upon the success it had last year as the ACC regular-season champion. Reigning ACC Coach of the Year [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] fielded questions about that and more during the ACC Women’s Tipoff on Oct. 24 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Joining her were returnees [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] and [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag].
Here is some of what they had to say:
It’s not that each loss occurred but instead, how. The end result for all: pain.
If you’ve been a fan of Notre Dame football for the last couple of decades then heartbreak is something you’re used to.
Since winning their last national championship in 1988 there have been some extreme highs but none included hoisting the championship trophy at season’s end (although some could have).
There have been some heartbreaking losses since then. Some have costs chances at national championships, some have simply just ended in anguish and pain.
Which was the worst though?
After losing to Ohio State in truly incredible fashion we thought we’d take a look at some of the candidates and let you decide which one stings the worst.
For being the only two catholic schools to play FBS football, Notre Dame and Boston College’s history together isn’t a long one.
Notre Dame and Boston College are set to meet again this Saturday for what will the 27th all-time meeting between the two. Despite them being the only two catholic schools that play FBS football, the rivalry on the field between the Irish and Eagles is relatively young.
Any college football fan of a certain age can recall what happened in 1993 when Boston College ruined Notre Dame’s perfect season a week after the Irish beat No. 1 Florida State. Heck, Notre Dame fans recall when the Eagles ruined another undefeated season by upsetting the Irish in 2002, a week after Notre Dame had stunned, you guessed it, Florida State.
There is a lot more to this rivalry than just those two games, though. Here is a look back at some of the biggest moments when the two got together.
Congrats to an all-time great!
Former Notre Dame and San Francisco 49ers great Bryant Young will be in the 2022 Pro Football Hall of Fame class. The announcement was made on Thursday night ahead of the Super Bowl as Young got the knock on his door that made things official.
Young was a highly touted recruit from the Chicago suburbs that was part of Notre Dame’s incredible 1990 recruiting class that saw five players selected in the first round of the NFL draft, two of which have now been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (Jerome Bettis).
Young was a star on Notre Dame’s defensive line before becoming a mainstay on the San Francisco 49ers defensive front where his incredible career spanned 14 seasons He started 208 games, all for the 49ers, and racked up 627 tackles, 89.5 sacks, 20 pass breakups, 12 forced fumbles and seven fumble recoveries. Young was a Super Bowl champion, four-time Pro Bowler, and a First-Team All-Pro in 1996. Three times he was selected as a Second-Team All-Pro.
.@Bgr8t has been elected to the HOF Class of 2022.#PFHOF22 | @49ers pic.twitter.com/LLPv19yPt4
— Pro Football Hall of Fame (@ProFootballHOF) February 11, 2022
Young will go in alongside Tony Boselli, Cliff Branch, Leroy Butler, Art McNally, Sam Mills, Richard Seymour and Dick Vermeil.
Related:
Notre Dame has seen a pair of unbeaten seasons end against Boston College, one coming a week after knocking off No. 1.
It’s pretty simple.
Simply say the name “Boston College” to any Notre Dame fan and nightmares are immediately brought back.
It’s as easy as 1993, a week after knocking off No. 1 Florida State in the “Game of the Century”, Notre Dame laid the golden egg of all eggs and lost at home to Boston College which in turn kept the Irish from a national championship.
Nine years later it was Notre Dame in their first year under Tyrone Willingham shocking the nation and jumping out to an 8-0 record after upsetting Florida State in Tallahassee.
One week later, in the most hideous green jerseys the world has ever seen, quarterback Carlyle Holiday got injured and No. 4. Notre Dame fell to Boston College 14-7 and were never able to recover under Willingham’s tenure as they’d go just 13-15 the remainder of his watch starting with that game.
No. 2 Notre Dame hits the road this week to again take on Boston College one week after a massive win.
A win certainly wouldn’t get the talk of Boston College ruining Notre Dame’s title hopes forever, at least unless the second ranked Irish were able to put and end to their 32 year title drought this January.
But a win over Boston College even in 2012 didn’t make those awful memories go away, even when Notre Dame wound up in the national championship game.
This Boston College team is significantly improved compared to the 2019 Eagles that Notre Dame beat up 40-7 late last season.
They may be 5-3 but are dangerous under former Notre Dame backup quarterback Phil Jurkovec.
The Eagles had a 28-10 lead at Clemson just a week ago before giving it up and falling 34-28.
They also nearly knocked off a then-unbeaten North Carolina team before falling late, but in their only other defeat they were blasted by Virginia Tech, 40-14.
They also had to sneak out with a victory over traditional powerhouse Texas State, 24-21 and also barely got by a bad Syracuse team last week with a 16-13 win.
It’s hardly a great team Notre Dame faces in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts but it’s certainly one that has made life hard on some good teams to date.
There will be plenty of story lines and memories of both 1993 and 2002 when Notre Dame hits the road this weekend but if talent has anything to do with it, it should be a game the Irish roll to 8-0 in before their bye week.
Notre Dame has had a few great teams that didn’t win a national championship. Inspired by a bad ESPN list here are seven of the best here.
I was scrolling through different pages over the weekend and this morning and stumbled upon an interesting sounding list at ESPN:
“Our top college football teams that failed to win the national championship”
Certainly this list will create some discussion and without a doubt, Notre Dame will be represented on here a few times over.
Or so I thought.
If you clicked the link and read/scrolled through you probably realized that in that list of 25 teams, Notre Dame was never listed.
Uh, what?
No offense to Bill Connelly, I’m sure he’s a stand-up human but what on God’s green earth are you talking about on this list?
I can see Notre Dame not having a top team on the list but none in the top 25 of it is just absurd. Here are just a few for Mr. Connelly and yourselves to freshen up on as each could have won a title.
1941 – Frank Leahy’s First Notre Dame Squad…
