Everett Golson – Syndication Server

Notre Dame Football’s History of August Games

Let’s take a quick look back at five times Notre Dame has played in August, something that dates back to 1989.

Notre Dame helps kick off the college football season this weekend as the Irish will be in Ireland to take on Navy. It’s rare that Notre Dame has kicked off a football season in Ireland but less that they have in August. The Irish have played a handful of times historically in the year’s eighth month and fared well.

So how well exactly have things gone for Notre Dame in August? Check out below how the Irish have fared in those five games as we’ll see if they can add another victory to the list in 2023 as they open the season in Saturday against Navy.

25 unbreakable Notre Dame football records

How does a head coach let a quarterback get to seven interceptions in a single game?

Earlier this week LeBron James became the NBA’s leading scorer, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the record that had stood for more than 30 years. Although I wouldn’t quite put it with Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak or Cal Ripken, Jr.’s consecutive games started streaks in terms of unbreakability, I have a hard time believing I’ll see someone else pass LeBron’s mark while I’m still on earth.

That got me thinking about what Notre Dame’s most unbreakable football records are. So I did what every 37-year-old male does when they’re too awake to go to bed.

I sifted through the most recent Notre Dame football media guide and came up with 25 records I’m betting I never see broken for one reason or another. Here are 25 of the most incredible marks in Notre Dame football history — ones that certainly will not be broken anytime soon.

Notre Dame quarterbacks through the years

Not the best but who is your favorite ND quarterback of all-time?

In the long history of Notre Dame football its difficult to come up with a favorite all-time quarterback. Sure, the likes of [autotag]Paul Hornung[/autotag], [autotag]Joe Montana[/autotag], [autotag]Joe Theismann[/autotag], and [autotag]Brady Quinn[/autotag] all achieved great things in blue and gold but so many others reached great heights as well.

Then there were others that didn’t go on to get drafted into the NFL but led successful Notre Dame squads in their own right like [autotag]Kevin McDougal[/autotag], [autotag]Tony Rice[/autotag], and [autotag]Everett Golson[/autotag].

Who is your favorite quarterback in the history of Notre Dame football?

Who do you think was the best?

And who is your favorite one-hit-wonder?

A day after [autotag]Tyler Buchner[/autotag] announced he was entering the transfer portal, here is a look back at photos of several Notre Dame quarterbacks over the years.

History of Notre Dame’s rivalry with Pittsburgh

Here’s a rivalry worth talking about.

Everyone knows about the rivalries Notre Dame has with USC, Navy and Michigan, although that last one currently is on hiatus. However, a lot fewer fans seem to realize that Pittsburgh is another program the Irish have played frequently. Ever since the Irish won a 6-0 decision during their first meeting in 1909, the Panthers have been a semi-regular opponent. Like with most rivalries, the Irish have the all-time edge, this one to the tune of 50-21-1.

The series isn’t fading away anytime soon as the programs currently are scheduled for seven future meetings. It’s time to give this rivalry the prestige and hype it deserves. To help fans appreciate the Irish’s history with the Steel City’s flagship university, let’s take a look at some of its most memorable moments to date. Diehard Irish fans undoubtedly remember many of these, but for the uninitiated, here is what to keep in mind during the programs’ future matchups:

Top 10 career passers in Notre Dame history

When you’ve played football as long as Notre Dame has your record books end up looking pretty impressive. That’s the case when you look at the best quarterbacks to ever play at Notre Dame. So who holds the records and even more impressively, who are …

When you’ve played football as long as Notre Dame has your record books end up looking pretty impressive. That’s the case when you look at the best quarterbacks to ever play at Notre Dame.

So who holds the records and even more impressively, who are some of the megastars you remember who didn’t make the top 10?

Here are Notre Dame’s top ten career passers:

Worst Notre Dame loss under Brian Kelly

What’s been the Irish’s worst showing under their current coach?

Brian Kelly is entering his 12th season as Notre Dame coach. He needs only four wins to pass Knute Rockne for the most in program history. Along the way, he has accumulated 39 losses. The worst came during the Irish’s annual meeting with USC in the 2014 regular-season finale.

The Irish entered the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on a three-game losing streak, including their final two contests at Notre Dame Stadium. It didn’t help that the defense was ravaged by injuries. The Trojans didn’t care about any of that as they dominated early and never looked back in a 49-14 win.

USC jumped out to a 35-0 lead late in the second quarter. Malik Zaire, whom Kelly substituted for the struggling Everett Golson, ran for an 11-yard touchdown soon after to keep the goose egg off the Irish’s side of the scoreboard before halftime. Late in the third, Greg Bryant, Notre Dame’s leading rusher for 79 yards on seven carries, had a 1-yard touchdown run. By then, however, the Trojans not only had finished their scoring, but became the first team ever to throw six touchdown passes against the Irish.

Golson turned in his worst performance of the season, completing seven of 18 passes for 75 yards and one interception. He and Zaire particularly had a tough time with Trojans linebacker J.R. Tavai, who recorded three-and-a-half sacks and forced a lost fumble. It’s a miracle that the Irish only turned the ball over twice.

2014 had a happy ending for Notre Dame as a month later, it defeated LSU in the Music City Bowl, 31-28. Still, it had to be hard to forget that poor showing in Los Angeles. Perhaps using that game as motivation, the Irish have won four of the five meetings since. Hey, whatever gets you ready to play.

ND Football All-Decade Team – Quarterback

He’s 22 starts in, with 13 or 14 more to go hopefully, but Book was the only Notre Dame quarterback during this time period whose big numbers matched the team’s lofty success.

With Notre Dame’s season concluded and the entire college football season just waiting for the coronation next Monday night, what better time than now to reflect on the last decade of Notre Dame football. There is a little over three months until the April 18th spring game so let’s fill that time with some Brian Kelly-era reflection.

Over the next few months, we’re going to run through the best games, players and moments from the last ten years of Notre Dame football.

With the first installment, we start with the most important position in football. Here are the four quarterbacks on our 53-man All-Decade Team.

BACKUPS

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Notre Dame Almanac: Happy Anniversary Music City Bowl

LSU quarterback Anthony Jennings completed a then game-record 75 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver John Diarse. Jennings other 13 pass attempts on the afternoon totaled just 76 more yards. Joe Burrow was still a senior at Athens High School on this day.

I woke up this morning and began flipping channels only to come to ESPN-U. I thought I was still in a haze when it said the 2014 Music City Bowl between Notre Dame and LSU was being shown.

If you’re a Notre Dame fan you remember the Irish pulling off the win to finish a 2014 season that began with so much positivity until one bad call in Tallahassee sent things spiraling out of control the second half of the season.

It did end on a high note however as the Irish earned their first win over an SEC team since beating Tennessee in 2005.

Do you remember how ridiculous that game was, though?

A young man named Leonard Fournette announcing his arrival by returning a kickoff 100 yards for a socre and setting the record for longest run in Music City Bowl history, an 89 yard touchdown run. He’d finish with 264 total yards.

Notre Dame went back and forth between Everett Golson and Malik Zaire at quarterback as the two combined to throw for 186 yards and a touchdown while Zaire also helped play the ball-possession game in carrying 22 times for 96 yards.

Notre Dame ran the ball 51 times on the day, an almost exact 2:1 ratio as they attempted 26 passes.

CJ Prosise began his transformation to running back that afternoon as he had three carries (also had three carries all year coming in) for 75 yards, including a 50 yard scoring run. A pretty nice first step for what wound up being a special 2015 for him.

And most importantly it all ended with Kyle Brindza hitting a 32 yard field goal as time expired to give Notre Dame (+8.5) the upset victory.

That was five years ago today, relive some of those fun memories by watching the highlights below:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp7jkgtWNVc&w=560&h=315]