While it may not seem like it on the surface, there are quite a few present-day connections to Notre Dame’s 48-0 shutout of Purdue in 1992.
The Irish and Boilermakers will face each other in 2024. Although this game will take place in West Lafayette as opposed to the 1992 game in South Bend, a player involved in that game, Irish All-American [autotag]Aaron Taylor[/autotag], will be seen on that game’s broadcast on CBS as he just joined the network’s college football pregame show.
On ESPN’s recap of the game, you can see Taylor being highlighted as a blocker for one of [autotag]Jerome Bettis[/autotag]’ two touchdowns that day:
— College Football Classics (@ClassicsCFB) May 22, 2024
While Bettis did well on this day, he still couldn’t touch Reggie Brooks, who ran for three touchdowns and 205 yards. In fact, all of the Irish’s touchdowns for that game came on the ground with [autotag]Rick Mirer[/autotag] and [autotag]Kevin McDougal[/autotag] rounding out the scoring. How times have changed considering today’s pass-heavy game.
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hen you look at the long history of Notre Dame football you’ll be hard-pressed to find a player responsible for a pair of more memorable plays than Reggie Brooks. Brooks followed his older brother Tony’s lead and enrolled at Notre Dame in 1989. Originally a defensive back, the younger Brooks transitioned to tailback back for his junior season in 1991. That move resulted in Lou Holtz and the Irish getting one of the best years from a running back in program history.
Brooks didn’t make a major impact in 1991, rushing just 18 times all year. He made the most of those opportunities though as he ran for 122 yards (6.7 ypc) and a pair of touchdowns. The next year he soared and became forever entrenched in Notre Dame lore for two incredible plays (and for having a monster year).
The first came on a touchdown run against Michigan that Brooks broke at least five tackles during before being knocked out just before crossing the goal line.
That run came early in the year and helped set the tone for what would become a massive season. Brooks totaled 1,343 rushing yards that year while scoring 13 times on the ground and catching one pass for a 24-yard score. It was another reception he had that didn’t count as a reception in the box score, but is still remembered as clear as day by any Notre Dame or Penn State fan that watched it.
I tried my hardest but couldn’t find the outstanding Tony Roberts call of this sequence online.
A week later Brooks overcame a stomach bug to rush for 227 yards and three touchdowns at USC. His two memorable scoring plays earlier in the year paired with that performance in front of a national audience helped him to finish fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting. Not bad for someone who shared a backfield with some guy named Bettis, huh?
Brooks, [autotag]Rick Mirer[/autotag] and [autotag]Jerome Bettis[/autotag] were the first real stars at Notre Dame that I remember watching. I know I watched games before that but those three were the first few that I grew an attachment to as a young fan.
Brooks would go on to be drafted by the Washington Redskins and played three years for them before finishing his NFL career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Today he celebrates turning 52 so happy birthday to Reggie.
I might not have been able to find a clip of it but after writing this first thing this morning I promise you I’ll be yelling “REGGIE BROOKS! REGGIE BROOKS CAUGHT IT FOR A TWO-POINTER!” in my head all afternoon.
Happy birthday, 40!
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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:
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.
What would happen if Notre Dame’s recruiting of the running back position could meet what it does on the offensive line?
Notre Dame has long been known for fielding a solid running game on an annual basis. [autotag]Jerome Bettis[/autotag], [autotag]Ricky Watters[/autotag], [autotag]Reggie Brooks[/autotag], [autotag]Ray Zellars[/autotag], [autotag]Autry Denson[/autotag] and [autotag]Allen Pinkett[/autotag] come to mind from yesteryear. Stars [autotag]Kyren Williams[/autotag], [autotag]Josh Adams[/autotag] and [autotag]Theo Riddick[/autotag] wowed crowds over the last decade.
It’s been a long time however since Notre Dame has brought in what would be considered top-tier talent at the position with regularity. Sure, Adams, [autotag]Tony Jones, Jr[/autotag] and some others have earned NFL paychecks over the last decade, it’s been a long while since Notre Dame produced Julius Jones, the last Irish running back to be more than simply a role-playing back in the NFL. Perhaps Williams will change that with the Rams, but time will only tell.
So what has Notre Dame’s recruiting at running back looked like the last two-plus decades?
Here are the top 30 Notre Dame running back recruits since 2000 according to 247Sports. It is worth noting some of these players wound up changing positions once getting to South Bend.
Who were your first couple of favorite Notre Dame football players? One of mine is celebrating a birthday today. Happy birthday @40RBND!
When you look at the long history of Notre Dame football you’ll be hard-pressed to find a player responsible for a pair of more memorable plays than [autotag]Reggie Brooks[/autotag]. Brooks followed his older brother Tony’s lead and enrolled at Notre Dame in 1989. Originally a defensive back, the younger Brooks transitioned to tailback back for his junior season in 1991. That move resulted in [autotag]Lou Holtz[/autotag] and the Irish getting one of the best years from a running back in program history.
Brooks didn’t make a major impact in 1991, rushing just 18 times all year. He made the most of those opportunities though as he ran for 122 yards (6.7 ypc) and a pair of touchdowns. The next year he soared and became forever entrenched in Notre Dame lore for two incredible plays (and for having a monster year).
The first came on a touchdown run against Michigan that Brooks broke at least five tackles during before being knocked out just before crossing the goal line.
That run came early in the year and helped set the tone for what would become a massive season. Brooks totaled 1,343 rushing yards that year while scoring 13 times on the ground and catching one pass for a 24-yard score. It was another reception he had that didn’t count as a reception in the box score, but is still remembered as clear as day by any Notre Dame or Penn State fan that watched it.
I tried my hardest but couldn’t find the outstanding Tony Roberts call of this sequence online.
A week later Brooks overcame a stomach bug to rush for 227 yards and three touchdowns at USC. His two memorable scoring plays earlier in the year paired with that performance in front of a national audience helped him to finish fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting. Not bad for someone who shared a backfield with some guy named Bettis, huh?
Brooks, [autotag]Rick Mirer[/autotag] and [autotag]Jerome Bettis[/autotag] were the first real stars at Notre Dame that I remember watching. I know I watched games before that but those three were the first few that I grew an attachment to as a young fan.
Brooks would go on to be drafted by the Washington Redskins and played three years for them before finishing his NFL career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Today he celebrates turning 52 so happy birthday to Reggie.
I might not have been able to find a clip of it but after writing this first thing this morning I promise you I’ll be yelling “REGGIE BROOKS! REGGIE BROOKS CAUGHT IT FOR A TWO-POINTER!” in my head all afternoon.
Happy birthday, 40!
Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.
Notre Dame might not be known as “Running Back U” but that doesn’t mean the Fighting Irish haven’t had their fair share of elite runners over the years. And those elite runners have had some pretty elite performances, but which Notre Dame running backs had the biggest days of all-time?
We’ve previously looked at the single game passing records for Notre Dame quarterbacks and found that throwing for a ton of yards often doesn’t mean good things for the team. How does that compare to running the ball extremely well on a given Saturday?
Here are Notre Dame’s top 10 all-time single game rushing leaders.
Another Heisman weekend. Another year without a Notre Dame winner, let alone a Notre Dame finalist.
Wide receiver [autotag]Tim Brown[/autotag] was the last Notre Dame player to bring home the award 35 long years ago, yet, in spite of that drought, the Fighting Irish still remain atop the leaderboard (tied with Oklahoma, Ohio State and USC) of schools with seven Heisman winners.
[autotag]Manti Te’o[/autotag] came very close in 2012 to interrupting the hiatus, but alas, here we sit waiting for the next Irish great to step to the forefront at the Downtown Athletic Club.
In honor of this weekend’s award ceremony, let’s take a look at the last 35 years and how close the Irish have come to breaking the drought.
Every prank a friend by changing their listed birthday on Facebook to the current date? That’s pretty much what we did to @RickMirer and we apologize.
Technology is great, it truly is. Until it isn’t. Then it can be a real pain in the backside. If you follow us on social media – and seriously, why on God’s green earth wouldn’t you (seriously – go follow us on Twitter immediately and like our Facebook page if you haven’t already), then you missed us sending a former Notre Dame quarterback birthday wishes on Wednesday night.
The only problem is that his birthday was in March. So we were either eight months late or four months early depending on your perspective. Oh, and it wasn’t like a quarterback that played just a few games or one season or something, it was one of the best to ever do it at Notre Dame.
If you didn’t see it, here is how our interaction with Notre Dame legend and former second-overall NFL draft pick [autotag]Rick Mirer [/autotag]went last night:
Fighting Irish Wire apologizes for the endless birthday wishes and promises to find the bug in the system that keeps auto-posting that, 3.In the meantime, happy 30th anniversary to Mirer, Jerome Bettis, Reggie Brooks, and the rest of the 1992 team as the Snow Bowl was played 30 years ago earlier this week.
Even if it’s not your birthday we hope you accept our apologies and are able to enjoy one of your finest bottles of wine to forget about the ill-timed birthday messages we would have been responsible for you receiving.
Who is your favorite team in all of sports and what year did you become a fan? Perhaps there was a year your fandom became an obsession?
That was the case for me in the early-90s with Notre Dame football as I know I have been a fan for as long as I can remember but my first memories of watching the Irish came in the 1992 season that saw a 10-1-1 conclusion led by my first set of favorites in [autotag]Rick Mirer[/autotag], [autotag]Jerome Bettis[/autotag], [autotag]Reggie Brooks[/autotag], [autotag]Bryant Young[/autotag], [autotag]Jim Flanigan[/autotag], and plenty of others.
A year later we know what happened as the Irish, led by quarterback Kevin McDougal, had wins over No. 3 Michigan and No.1 Florida State in starting the year 10-0 before being upset in the regular season finale by Boston College. I don’t care what the final polls say, I saw the 1993 “Game of the Century” against Florida State and despite it coming down to the final play, anybody who watched that game saw Notre Dame beat the daylights out of Florida State that afternoon. Seriously, if All-American [autotag]Jeff Burris[/autotag] turns one of his several passes defended in that game into an interception then the Irish win by two or more scores.
Instead, Bobby Bowden received his lifetime achievement award from the Associated Press and his fellow coaches.
Notre Dame was the best team in the country in 1993 and I’ll never come down from this hill no matter how hard my Florida State fans try to get me to.
Even with the heartbreak from that Boston College game of ’93, I can’t help but be grateful of catching onto Notre Dame football when I did because had I been just a couple years younger I don’t know if things would have been quite the same.
Over those two years Notre Dame went 21-2-1, won a pair of Cotton Bowls over Texas A&M, and it was the last two years of the Fighting Irish being the “it” thing in college football under [autotag]Lou Holtz[/autotag] as things were never quite the same for him in South Bend after ’93.
With there being 93/92 days until the season kicks off this fall (Thursday and Friday), here is a look back at a few photos from the 1992 and 1993 seasons that I’ll always remember from my youth.
