Tag: classic games

Notre Dame Watch Party Moving Nights

Notre Dame has been having watch parties for old games all spring and summer. They will continue on a new night starting this week.

If you’ve been really craving sports during this pandemic that has left us largely without live team sports to take in, you may have tuned in and watched a few of the classic Notre Dame games that have been re-aired on the Notre Dame Athletics YouTube page.

Those have been occurring the last few months on Saturday night’s and they’re not going away anytime soon, but they are switching nights starting this week.

This Thursday at 7 p.m. ET you can tune in to see the 2011 Notre Dame win over Michigan State.ย  That will be the first game shown on a Thursday with a few more scheduled.

June 18 will feature the 1997 game against Georgia Tech in which Notre Dame Stadium was dedicated following renovations. Immediately following that game will be the 2011 hockey win over Boston College in which the Compton Family Ice Arena was dedicated.

The series concludes for June on the 25th when the thrilling 2002 football win over Michigan will air.

Check it all out on the Notre Dame Athletics YouTube page.

Notre Dame to Re-Air 2018 Win over Michigan

Notre Dame vs Michigan was a huge way to open the 2018 season. Relive it Saturday-many national writers seemed to have missed it originally.

Some people, national football writers and media members specifically, almost want to refuse to believe that the biggest game of college football’s opening weekend in 2018 actually happened.

However, it did.ย  Notre Dame beat Michigan 24-17 in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicated.ย  You can relive that on Notre Dame’s YouTube channel this Saturday night starting at 7:30 p.m. ET.

As the year went on Notre Dame kept winning, albeit not always in the most impressive of ways.ย  However, it was often treated as if that season opener was never actually played because Michigan would wind up being a team that much of the media wanted to treat as a legitimate championship contender, even with the Notre Dame loss.

Michigan would end up getting pummeled by Ohio State to close the regular season while Notre Dame would go 12-0 before getting run out of the Cotton Bowl by Clemson.

Maybe much of the college football world will actually watch it this time around because they seemed to have missed the boat on it originally.

How to Watch the 1989 Fiesta Bowl Tonight

No plans Friday night? No problem. Pull up a seat and watch Notre Dame cap it’s 1988 national championship with a win over West Virginia.

If you’ve got no plans on Friday or heck, even if you do and you’re looking for something to watch later on, tune in or set your DVR tonight as Notre Dame’s Fiesta Bowl win over West Virginia will air at 7 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.

Tony Rice led the way for Notre Dame in what remains their last national championship clincher.ย  He finished with a few huge passes, completing seven of 11 attempts for 213 yards and two touchdowns.

What will also be fun for this game is that if you’re active on Twitter you can follow along as a couple of stars from that 1988 Notre Dame team will share their thoughts throughout the game.

So if you don’t have plans this Friday night then now you do or at least can.ย  What’s always weird to me about this game is that as Zorich kind of says in his video, because of the Michigan, Miami and USC games that year, the national championship win over West Virginia feels like the third or fourth most memorable game in my mind.

Notre Dame to Re-Broadcast 1998 Classic vs. LSU

Most college football fans have no recollection of 1998 Notre Dame vs. LSU but for those who watched it was four hours of all-time weird.

By pure luck Notre Dame and LSU have had a nice little run as the two have met six times since 1997.ย  A few of those have ended in some thrilling finishes, most recently the Capital One Bowl win with Miles Boykin snagging the game-winning touchdown reception from Ian Book late in the fourth quarter.

Notre Dame is going to re-air another classic Notre Dame/LSU contest on Saturday night as they’ll be showing their 1998 win over the Tigers at Notre Dame Stadium.

Notre Dame was ranked tenth in the nation and on the cusp of a BCS berth if they could knock off LSU and USC in the final couple weeks of the year.ย  For those that don’t recall, this game featured:

  • Four combined returns for touchdowns
  • Eventual bust Abram Booty having a moment in the sun as the highly regarded recruit goes off for 153 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
  • A Notre Dame win that finished with one of the dumber things Bob Davie ever did on the Irish sideline

You can check that all out here on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. ET as Notre Dame and LSU do battle again 22 years later.ย  It was an all-time strange one that ended in victory but man alive was it a strange way to get there.

Notre Dame’s 2006 Home Games Now Available Online

2006 was supposed to trump that.ย  They entered the season ranked second in the nation behind only Ohio State it was supposed to be the year that returned Notre Dame to glory.

Instead it was the final run for some memorable Notre Dame players but never did it ever sniff the levels we were all hoping.ย  Notre Dame escaped Atlanta with a win in Week One before blowing out Penn State a week later.ย  Michigan would put an end to title dreams in Week Three before Notre Dame would win eight straight to make it to 10-1, only to get blown out by both USC and LSU to close the year.

2006 was the first year I entered my Notre Dame fandom since I probably nine (1995) that I had legit hopes for the Fighting Irish to make a run at a national championship.ย  2005 was a surprise season that saw the likes of Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardzija, Tom Zbikowski and plenty of others burst onto the scene en-route to a BCS berth in the Fiesta Bowl.

2006 was supposed to trump that.ย  They entered the season ranked second in the nation behind only Ohio State it was supposed to be the year that returned Notre Dame to glory.

Instead it was the final run for some memorable Notre Dame players but never did it ever sniff the levels we were all hoping.ย  Notre Dame escaped Atlanta with a win in Week One before blowing out Penn State a week later.ย  Michigan would put an end to title dreams in Week Three before Notre Dame would win eight straight to make it to 10-1, only to get blown out by both USC and LSU to close the year.

It was a memorable season even if it was disappointing compared to pre-season expectations.ย  Notre Dame re-aired the comeback win over UCLA this past Saturday and posted all of the other home games from that season to YouTube.

Here they are for future reference:

Week Two – No. 4 Notre Dame 41, No. 19 Penn State 17
In a five minute span (game time) Notre Dame went from up 6-0 to up 27-0 in what wound up being a rout of the defending Orange Bowl Champions.

Week Three – No. 11 Michigan 47, No. 2 Notre Dame 21
I’ve never left a sporting event as mad as I was when I left this one.ย  No further comment besides fire this thing into the sun.

Week Five – No. 12 Notre Dame 35, Purdue 21
A huge afternoon from Darius Walker finished with 209 total yards and rushing touchdown accompanied by a pair of Rhema McKnight touchdown receptions lifted the Irish on a pretty ho-hum afternoon.

Week Six – No. 12 Notre Dame 31, Stanford 10
Darius Walker had another huge day with nearly 200 yards of total offense and another score while Brady Quinn threw for 232 yards and three touchdowns in a rout of the then-winless Stanford Cardinal.

Week Eight – No. 10 Notre Dame 20, UCLA 17
It wasn’t pretty but it was a win that kept BCS dreams alive as Notre Dame made it four straight with a last second, Quinn to Samardzija touchdown hookup that helped the Irish avoid an upset.

Week 10 – No. 11 Notre Dame 45, North Carolina 26
Brady Quinn threw the ball all over the yard for 346 yards and four touchdowns as Jeff Samardzija pulled down 177 yards and a score.ย  Tom Zbikowski returned a punt for a touchdown for good measure in a game that was really never close against Carolina.

Week 12 – No. 6 Notre Dame 41, Army 9
Notre Dame donned the green jerseys for the final home game of 2006 which happened to take place the same afternoon as the One-versus-Two, Ohio State/Michigan game in Columbus.ย  Quinn, Walker and Samardzija all shined in what wound up being the final home game of real relevance for a handful of years.

2006 didn’t end the way any Notre Dame fans really wanted.ย  USC would wipe the floor with the Irish a week later before a BCS berth that was generous ended with a 41-14 massacre in the Super Dome against a far-superior LSU squad.ย  It was a disappointing year but it was also the closest to relevant football Notre Dame fans would have until really 2012 when the stars aligned for a 12-0 regular season.

Breaking Down “Notre Dame Football Quarantine House”

SEND THE BOSTON COLLEGE GAME ON THE NEXT ROCKET TO MARS, PLEASE AND THANK YOU!!!

If you’ve been on social media for any five second period during the last month, chances are you’ve seen something about “what quarantine house do you want to be in?”

Whether it’s been food or celebrities you’d rather live with, none held my interest.

Until now.

NBC Sports’ Douglas Farmer put out this tweet and boy oh boy do I have takes.

The only correct answer is House 6. I will not accept any other. And here’s why.

The National Championship loss to Alabama was awful. But if you put in contest, was it really that bad or unexpected?

That team was good. But it was not great. That Alabama team was one of the best in college football history.

The Oklahoma win was the biggest road victory of the Kelly era on a Saturday night in Norman.

The 2017 Citrus Bowl saw the rise of Ian Book and one of the best plays in school history with Miles Boykin’s game-winning TD catch.

And both the Virginia and Virginia Tech games were a team fighting and clawing to dramatic wins.

The highs of those four games are valued more to me than the loss to Alabama.

Here’s how I’d break down the others.

House 1

The three USC victories were great (one a butt-kicking over Sam Darnold and the others were games with huge stakes), but the Bush Push (I see the Dwayne Jarrett catch in my nightmares) and the season-opening loss to South Florida ruin it for me.

House 2

Everyone loves a good Michigan win, but last year’s no-show against the Wolverines coupled with a loss to Duke. No thanks.

House 3

The Snow Bowl is my favorite game of all-time. The UCLA/Samardzija was one I remember jumping up and down in my apartment watching. The Game of the Century is probably my second-favorite game of all-time. BUT…

SEND THE BOSTON COLLEGE GAME ON THE NEXT ROCKET TO MARS, PLEASE AND THANK YOU!!!

Also, that Nebraska game was a gut punch.

House 4

The wins were good wins, but not epic wins. Utah, Rutgers, Pitt and Navy don’t move the needle for me like others. And I’m sorry Charlie. I don’t care how bad your team is. You don’t lose to Navy at home.

House 5

Love the Stanford wins. 2018 was one of my sneaky favorite games of all-time with Dexter Williams’ return and what it meant for the rest of the season. Obviously the goal-line in 2012 was great.

But that 2015 Stanford game hurt. Bad. That 2015 Kizer-led squad went through a lot and was really, really good. That run by Kizer to put them up I thought had sealed their spot in the playoff.

And you don’t lose to Syracuse. Me meeting my wife later that night was the only good thing to come out of that day.

Watch a Notre Dame Classic with Brian Kelly

Do you have plans Saturday night?
Of course you don’t. At least not of the going out variety. So why not watch an old Notre Dame football game with Brian Kelly?

You.

Yeah, you.

Do you have plans Saturday night?

Of course you don’t. At least not of the going out variety. So why not watch an old Notre Dame football game with Brian Kelly?

Notre Dame fans can do just that Saturday night as Kelly will be hosting a replay game watch of the 2015 season-opener against Texas.

It’s hardly a thriller seeing as Notre Dame ran Texas off the field that night but its a fun one to watch. Notre Dame won 38-3 while out gaining the Longhorns 527 to 163 in a laugher.

7:30 p.m. ET is when it gets started on the Notre Dame Football Facebook page.

Despite it not being the most compelling of contests it’s a win and watching Kelly watch it will be intriguing. I would be curious to watch Kelly watch some of the defensive disasters from a year later, though. Guessing the red face would reappear.

In all seriousness though this will be fun and different. Hoping some fun stories are shared and perhaps a former player or two Skype/Zoom/FaceTime in.

I guess we’ll see you all Saturday night.

Go Irish. Beat Longhorns.

(I think they will and that Jaylon Smith and Will Fuller will have big nights)