Tag: marc edwards

Watch: 1996 highlights of ugly Notre Dame win over Vanderbilt

Remember this game?

After Notre Dame’s 1995 season began with an unexpected loss to Northwestern, the program hoped to avoid a similar upset to begin 1996. That involved visiting a putrid Vanderbilt team that the Irish easily should have disposed of. However, the 14-7 win really had to be earned, and it involved some of the ugliest football in recent program history. Here are the “SportsCenter” highlights to provide a small taste of that ugliness:

The Irish lost four fumbles, and it took a 3-yard touchdown run by [autotag]Marc Edwards[/autotag] in the fourth quarter to put them up for good. Despite the victory, it was an embarrassing performance for a team just coming off an Orange Bowl appearance. Having been ranked sixth in the preseason, the Irish fell to ninth in the next poll.

This statement from the game story on the Notre Dame athletic website says it all:

“Leaving Vanderbilt Stadium, many Irish fans were shocked and dismayed. How did Notre Dame win despite losing four fumbles? Was this merely first-game jitters or a sign of things to come?”

In 1996, the final season with [autotag]Lou Holtz[/autotag] at the helm, the Irish finished 8-3 and never dropped from the rankings, ultimately finishing 19th. They declined a couple of bowl invitations because they didn’t like the quality of the opponents they would have played. Boy, how things have changed.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

44 days till Patriots season opener: Every player to wear No. 44 for New England

Here’s a list of every Patriots player to wear the No. 44 jersey number

The New England Patriots are officially 44 days away from opening up their 2023 season at home against the Philadelphia Eagles. So we’re continuing our countdown series today by listing every Patriots player that has ever worn the No. 44 jersey.

Raleigh Webb currently wears the number for the Patriots.

The former undrafted wideout from The Citadel joined the team after initially signing with the Baltimore Ravens last year. He contributed mostly on special teams for New England, who had him in on 49 percent of their special teams snaps in only 10 regular season appearances.

There have been 20 other players that have worn the No. 44 before Webb. Let’s take a look at every Patriots player that has worn the number throughout franchise history (via Pro Football Reference).

Watch: Notre Dame’s 10 Toughest Touchdown Runs Ever

Notre Dame has had plenty of memorable running backs who made plenty of classic runs. Did your personal favorite make this top 10 list?

In its continuing series of top-10 lists, Notre Dame released its “Top 10 Toughest Touchdown Runs” on Monday afternoon. I will not spoil the ending, but I will say it was as memorable as touchdown run as there was during my formative years.

No real knocks on the rankings in this one. My one thought would be a debate between what is “tough” versus “shifty,” but I’m not in the mood to debate that right now.

Here they are – watch them and enjoy!

One and two are both beyond debate for me, so save it in regards to those to especially. What run was too high or too low besides those two, though?

Watch: “Irish Intel” Features ‘95 Notre Dame Rout of USC

Next up it was Ron Powlus’ turn as the 1995 blowout of USC was discussed, specifically a broken down two point conversion that wound up successful.

A sincere tip of the cap to the Notre Dame advanced media team for their efforts to entertain during the international pandemic. Literally everyone in the world has seen their lives change in one way or another in recent weeks and we’ve had to find new senses of normal.

One of those for me has come by those who run Notre Dame’s athletic media pages. Twitter, Facebook or YouTube have all been willing to take a chance and just try things. The Saturday night classic football replays have been fun to check out and the top-ten lists bring back both great memories and fun debates.

Another new segment or idea they’ve tried is “Irish Intel” where a significant play gets broken down. Earlier in the week the Women’s LaCrosse team got a chance to break down an impressive transition goal from this year.

Next up it was Ron Powlus’ turn as the 1995 blowout of USC was discussed, specifically a broken down two point conversion that wound up successful.

I’ve enjoyed the folks in this specific Notre Dame office taking chances and trying things. I remembered Notre Dame beating the tar out of USC in 1995 but I’d forgotten about the Powlus reception for two points.

It’s not anything earth-shattering by any means but it’s a fun roughly 140 seconds to take a trek down Memory Lane.

And anytime that trek involves a blowout of USC nobody here is really going to be upset, are they?