Tag: darius walker

Watch: 2004 highlights of Notre Dame win at Michigan State

Remember this game?

One week after Notre Dame won its 2004 home opener over Michigan, it was time to head to East Lansing and take on Michigan State. With an opportunity to go over .500 for the first time that season, the Irish didn’t have the cleanest game as the special teams allowed two touchdowns. But the Spartans turned the ball over six times, one of which led to a [autotag]Tom Zbikowski[/autotag] 75-yard fumble return for a touchdown, in a 31-24 Irish victory.

Here’s how ESPN covered the highlights of that game:

[autotag]Brady Quinn[/autotag], completed less than half of his throws, but he threw for 215 yards. [autotag]Matt Shelton[/autotag] received 123 of those and caught Quinn’s lone touchdown pass. Quinn also ran for a touchdown himself and handed off to [autotag]Ryan Grant[/autotag] for another score. [autotag]Darius Walker[/autotag] ran for a game-high 98 yards on 26 carries.

While the season ultimately ended in disappointment, on one night in East Lansing, all was right for the 2004 Irish.

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ChatGPT ranks top 10 running backs in Notre Dame history

How do you feel about this list?

We recently put AI writing tool ChatGPT to the test and had it list what it believed was Notre Dame’s top 10 quarterbacks. The list surely caused some debate for some readers, but guess what? We’re going to cause you to think again by having it generate its list of the top 10 running backs in program history.

Some of you might disagree with what ChatGPT says, and others might even say the list is too short. However, the point of this is to make you think and spark discussion. Also, even though ChatGPT has not been updated since September 2021, it’s a safe assumption that no one on the Irish since then has played well enough to have a place on this list with the possible exception of [autotag]Kyren Williams[/autotag]. Just out of curiosity though, would you include him?

Anyway, without further adieu, here’s the list with ChatGPT’s descriptions of each player. Some entries have been edited for clarity and updates:

Watch: Ten Most Clutch Touchdown Runs in Notre Dame History

Some great memories in here as Notre Dame has released their ten most clutch runs of all time in program history. Football factory fun!

Notre Dame has been playing football for a very long time and have won a lot of games in that time.  Several have come down to the wire and ultimately been decided by a late touchdown run that put the Irish over the top.

Recently, Notre Dame’s advanced media put together their ten best clutch touchdown runs in the history of the program.  Before we discuss the list let’s watch it together during a trip down memory lane, first.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv14MnddCSg&w=560&h=315]

Take aways from the list…

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An Upset of Michigan this week on Notre Dame’s Watch Party

Saturday night Notre Dame will feature Darius Walker’s coming out party that left a top ten Michigan team shocked after a stunning upset

This Saturday night will offer a chance to relive an unlikely incredible moment during an otherwise frustrating season.  This week’s edition of the “Notre Dame Watch Party” features the 2004 home opener, a win over top-ten Michigan.

After a season opening loss at BYU a week earlier, Notre Dame welcomed Michigan to Notre Dame Stadium to kickoff their home season.  Michigan was ranked eighth in the nation, the Big Ten favorite that fall and had national championship dreams.

Led by Justin Tuck and Cory Mays on defense, Notre Dame kept Michigan out of the end zone and to just nine first half points.  The Irish offense was non-existent though, putting up a goose egg themselves.

Brady Quinn found Matt Shelton for a 46 yard touchdown in the early moments of the third quarter and an interception and then blocked punt helped set up a couple more Notre Dame scores.

Freshman running back Darius Walker, who didn’t get on the field the week previous, ran for a game-high 115 yards and two touchdowns en-route to a 28-20 win for the Irish.

In what wound up being an incredibly frustrating season that saw Notre Dame again upset a top-ten team in November when they knocked off No. 9 Tennessee, the Irish went just 6-5 in the regular season and saw head coach Tyrone Willingham fired before their bowl game.

2004 was tough as a fan, I don’t think any single game left me more upset than the blowing of a 20-7 halftime lead against Boston College right after Notre Dame had worked their way back into the top 25.  Instead of being 6-2, the Irish fell to 5-3 and the wheels seemingly came off besides for that win to come over Tennessee.

If you’re looking for something to do Saturday night the replay of the 2004 win over Michigan will bring back a memories of a thrilling afternoon in an otherwise incredibly maddening year.