Tag: notre dame usc rivalry

75 days until Notre Dame football returns!

In 75 days Notre Dame football will again take the field. What better way to count down today than with a 75 yard touchdown against USC?

Congratulations, we’re a quarter of the way done since this countdown began 25 days ago in getting to the return of Notre Dame football.

75 days from now Notre Dame and Navy are set to play in Annapolis and although not everything will be right in the world by then, some normalcy will at least return.

Yesterday we celebrated Father’s Day and day 76 of the countdown by looking back at Allen Pinkett’s 76 yard touchdown run that helped upset No. 1 Pitt in 1982.

Today we look back just five years at one of the fastest players in Notre Dame’s recent history, making one of his more memorable plays in the blue and gold.

75: Yards on Will Fuller’s touchdown reception against USC in 2015

Outside of Fuller’s game-winning touchdown reception to save the day against Virginia in Week Two of 2015, perhaps his most remembered play at Notre Dame came early against USC that year.  Trailing 7-0 early, Fuller ran past everyone in the Trojan secondary and straight to the end zone after being found by DeShone Kizer.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQfFKoaun5w&w=560&h=315]

Notre Dame would win that contest 41-31 over their biggest rival and move to 6-1 on the season.

Fuller would finish the year with 62 receptions for 1258 yards and 14 touchdowns before being selected in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Houston Texans.

Related – Way too early game-by-game predictions for Notre Dame football in 2020

78 Days Until Notre Dame Football Returns!

In 78 days Notre Dame football returns. Find out today what still-standing Notre Dame record Elmer Layden set in the 1925 Rose Bowl.

Just over 11 weeks from now we’ll have Notre Dame and Navy returning to the football field to start their 2020 college football seasons.  Until then we’ll be counting the days by sharing memories of players, coaches and games that helped shape Notre Dame’s football legacy.

Yesterday we counted down 79 to go with Jonas Gray’s long touchdown run to take the lead at Pitt in 2011, in a game where Notre Dame struggled for points but walked away victorious.  Now the countdown hits 78.

78: Length of Elmer Layden’s pick-six in 1925 Rose Bowl, the longest interception return in Notre Dame bowl history.

Notre Dame’s first bowl appearance came in the 1925 Rose Bowl, a 27-10 win over Stanford that cemented the Irish’s first national championship.

It also led to Notre Dame and USC becoming rivals as the two began their annual series a year later.

Layden was the star of the game, scoring another touchdown on the ground and returning a second interception for a score, this only being returned 63 yards that led to the final difference of 27-10.

The first interception return for a score by Notre Dame in a bowl game remains the longest to this day by any Irish player in a bowl game.

78 days – we’re getting there.

Related – Way too early game-by-game predictions for Notre Dame football in 2020

Just how much did Reggie Bush own Notre Dame?

With Reggie Bush and USC ending their disassociation, it felt like the proper time to relive just how much Bush crushed Notre Dame. Yikes.

Over the years there have been plenty of foes who Notre Dame could not get the number of.  With ESPN reporting that USC is expected to end Reggie Bush’s ten year disassociation from the school, it felt like the proper time to painfully relive some of Bush’s accomplishments at Notre Dame’s expense.

Years before Kim Kardashian was getting countless plastic surgeries she was dating Reggie Bush. And years before that he was as incredible of college football player as I’ve ever watched.

So just how well did Reggie Bush perform against Notre Dame during his three years at USC?

Bush’s Career game log vs. Notre Dame:

2003: 45-14 USC
Rushing: 6 att, 89 yds, TD
Receiving: 1 rec, 38 yds

2004: 41-10 USC
Rushing: 8 car, 25 yds
Receiving: 1 rec, 69 yds, TD

2005: 34-31 USC
Rushing: 15 car, 160 yds, 3 TD
Receiving; 4 rec, 35 yds

All-together:
3-0 record with USC outscoring Notre Dame by a combined score of 120-55.
Rushing:  29 car, 274 yds (9.4 ypc), 4 TD
Receiving: 6 rec, 142 yds (23.6 ypr), TD

All of that and Reggie Bush’s most memorable play in college football’s greatest inter-sectional rivalry was a play that he didn’t even touch the ball during.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62P8_Ik7NlE&w=560&h=315]

One day I’ll get over that.  Just not today.

Welcome back, Reggie.

Notre Dame to Highlight 1999 Comeback win vs. USC on Saturday

1999 was a forgettable year for Notre Dame outside a couple of comeback wins over blue-blood programs. Relive one of them Saturday night!

Notre Dame has been doing a great job keeping us entertained with plenty of old classics to watch during our respective quarantines.  Saturday they dip into that bag yet again with a memorable comeback victory from an otherwise pretty forgettable season.

1999 saw Notre Dame go just 5-7 after being within a regular season finale win at USC of going to a BCS bowl game.  Instead, Notre Dame lost that game with no Jarious Jackson at quarterback as he was injured and that, coupled with a bowl loss to Georgia Tech seemed to only slow things headed towards 1999.

Notre Dame started the year by blowing out Kansas before consecutive losses at Michigan, Purdue and to Michigan State.  A comeback win over Oklahoma to start October before blowing out Arizona State got the Irish back to .500 when USC came a calling in mid-October.

Having lost three straight to USC, Notre Dame sure was looking like it was going to be a fourth consecutive defeat at the hands of the Trojans as they trailed 24-3 early in the third quarter.

A few Trojans mishaps led to Notre Dame scores before Jackson eventually fumbled into the endzone, only to have tight end Jabari Halloway land on the loose ball to give the Irish the 25-24 lead with just over two minutes remaining at a rain-soaked Notre Dame Stadium.

The win moved Notre Dame to 4-3 on the season before a victory over Navy got the Irish to five a week later.  That was unfortunately all the wins Notre Dame would find that fall though, losing the final four games to Tennessee, Pitt, Boston College and Stanford to finish just 5-7.  It was their first losing season since Lou Holtz’s debut year when the Irish went 5-6 in 1986.

USC would finish just 6-6, missing a bowl game as well in what was the second of three seasons with Paul Hackett guiding the ship.  He’d be fired after the 2000 season and be replaced by some guy named Pete Carroll.

Enjoy one of the few bright spots from the fall of 1999 Saturday night by watching on YouTube and tweeting along using #NDWatchParty.

Birthday Greetings to Notre Dame Hero That Knocked off USC

He did however nail that short field goal against USC that ended 1986 and his Notre Dame career on a positive note. Two years later those two would meet as the top two teams in the country in a game that sent Notre Dame to the Fiesta Bowl and eventual national championship.

When you think of the 1986 Notre Dame football team you think of Lou Holtz’s first season that started with a near-upset of highly ranked Michigan before some trials and turbulations eventually ended in a 5-6 campaign.  It was that final game though, the fifth win that was so memorable and helped turn the tide of the Notre Dame football program.

Taking on No. 17 USC in the Colisuem to close the year, 4-6 Notre Dame trailed by 17 in the fourth quarter before rallying behind quarterback Steve Beuerlein and the following season’s Heisman Trophy winner, Tim Brown.  They put the Irish in position to complete the comeback before John Carney sealed the deal.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Xnqy0VXMPw?start=345&w=560&h=315]

John Carney punched the kick through as time expired and Notre Dame won, 38-37 over their biggest rival.  It didn’t get the Irish to a bowl game but it did end the season on a high note and for Carney as his final kick for the Irish was a walk-off winner.

Carney gets remembered for being one of the longest tenured legs in the NFL but looking back at his Notre Dame numbers leave a little to be desired.  After making 17 of 19 field goals and all 25 extra point attempts in 1984, he made just 34 of 50 field goal attempts the next two seasons and missed five extra points.

He did however nail that short field goal against USC that ended 1986 and his Notre Dame career on a positive note. Two years later those two would meet as the top two teams in the country in a game that sent Notre Dame to the Fiesta Bowl and eventual national championship.

Carney would go on to a great NFL career, playing for eight different franchises between 1987 and 2010, when as a New Orleans Saint he became the third-oldest player to compete in an NFL game.  Carney was voted an NFL All-Pro in 1994 and went to a pair of Pro Bowls.

The former Notre Dame and longtime NFL kicker turns 56 today so happy birthday greetings to the man who helped knock off the Trojans and start Lou Holtz’s run of terror on Troy in 1986.