Tag: reggie brooks

Watch: (Almost) All 1992 Notre Dame Home Games Here

Week Two’s tie against Michigan was first up that home season and despite a frustrating finish to the game, it did feature one of the best runs I’ve ever seen a Notre Dame player make when Reggie Brooks was knocked out by Corwin Brown but still stumbled into the end zone.  Not sure why but that one has not yet been added.  Stay tuned and we’ll link to it once/if it is.

Each week Notre Dame has been replaying a a different classic game on their YouTube page.  Two weeks ago it was the 2015 thrashing of Texas, last week was the win over No. 1 Florida State in 1993 and tonight was the airing of the 1992, last second win in “The Snow Bowl” over Penn State.

That thriller along with (almost) every other home game from the 1992 season are now available on the Notre Dame Athletics YouTube page.  From that year you’ll find the following games:

Week Two’s tie against Michigan was first up that home season and despite a frustrating finish to the game, it did feature one of the best runs I’ve ever seen a Notre Dame player make when Reggie Brooks was knocked out by Corwin Brown but still stumbled into the end zone.  Not sure why but that one has not yet been added.  Stay tuned and we’ll link to it once/if it is.

A 48-0 thrashing of Purdue in Week Four to move Notre Dame to 3-0-1 is next.  Is there every anything boring about blowing out the Boilermakers?  Didn’t think so.

One of the most maddening Notre Dame losses of my lifetime came in Week Five as Stanford came back from a 16-0 deficit as John Lynch and Glyn Milburn sparked a 33-0 run and ruined Notre Dame’s title dreams.

Three weeks later Notre Dame was back in the top-ten and welcomed BYU to Notre Dame Stadium for the first meeting between the two ever.  The Irish rolled over the Cougars 42-16 while holding them to just 13 rush yards on 16 attempts.

The first Saturday in November brought a battle of top-ten teams as No. 9 Boston College came to South Bend and was demolished 54-7 on the day that scenes from “Rudy” were filmed.

Finally, Senior Day 1992 was that “Snow Bowl” thriller over Penn State, 17-16.  Watch that and enjoy an all-time send off for the likes of Rick Mirer, Jerome Bettis and Reggie Brooks.

1992 was an extremely fun year and perhaps the year that I started to take a real interest in Notre Dame football.  I don’t recall a ton of moments but I do know for certain that I watched the Stanford game and got very upset that season.  Six year old me didn’t handle losing well.  Hell, 34 year old me doesn’t handle losing well.

That said it was a still solid 10-1-1 campaign that finished with a drubbing of Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl and a final ranking of fourth overall.

Notre Dame Watch Party This Saturday – 1992 “The Snow Bowl” vs. Penn State

Senior Day for Rick Mirer, Jerome Bettis and Reggie Brooks ended with each of them having a hand in the final outcome as the clock wound down on a Notre Dame victory.

I’ve been talking to Fighting Irish Wire’s own Nick Shepkowski on and off for about a year about Notre Dame Football.

You’d be hard-pressed to find any conversation we’ve had where the 1992 “Snow Bowl” game between No. 8 Notre Dame and No. 22 Penn State is not mentioned.

In our Irish Wire Greatest Games Tournament, we both had a hard time not placing this as a one seed.

“Catholics vs. Convicts” was a blood bath filled with palace intrigue and the game which eventually catapulted the Irish toward a national title.

“The Game of the Century” was a blockbuster movie on a picturesque fall afternoon with David slaying Goliath.

Both had more “stakes” than Notre Dame and Penn State playing for spots in better bowl games and pride.

But “The Snow Bowl” was a whimsical, fairy-tale of a contest. It looked more like a Norman Rockwell painting than a college football game. It was simply two teams going out on a snowy afternoon and playing football the way it was meant to be played.

And for this nine-year old transfixed on the screen at the time, the only thing that mattered was the beauty in front of him. It didn’t matter there was no hope for a championship for either team.  It was football in the snow and truly, as a kid, there are few things better. Maybe that’s why it’s imprinted on my brain the most memorable game in my fandom.

And thankfully for all of you Irish fans, you’ll have a chance to see the re-broadcast in all of its glory this Saturday night as the next in the #NDWatchParty series.

Senior Day for Rick Mirer, Jerome Bettis and Reggie Brooks ended with each of them having a hand in the final outcome as the clock wound down on a Notre Dame victory.

Will we have a live simultaneous commentary broadcast during this game? Well…I’m getting a new dog and it’s my wife’s birthday Saturday, but this is a game worth burning some bridges on the home front.

2020 FIW Tournament: Sweet 16 Voting is Open! (Best Notre Dame Game Since ’86)

We are in the Sweet 16 round of the tournament to decide Notre Dame’s best football game since 1986. Are any of the favorites on upset-alert this round?

And here we are, just 16 entries remaining as we continue our tournament at Fighting Irish Wire to determine the best Notre Dame football game (had to be a win) since Lou Holtz began his run in 1986.

Through two rounds we’ve seen mostly chalk with a couple of exceptions:

The sixth seeded 2002 Michigan State is alive in the Grotto Region while fellow-six seed 2006 UCLA remains alive in the Golden Dome Region.

11th seeded 2012 Michigan is still alive in the Hesburgh Region as it enters the Sweet 16 as the lowest remaining seed in the entire tournament.

All four one and two seeds remain as do three of the four, three seeds.  Can any of these Cinderella’s continue their runs to the Elite Eight?  Now is your chance to decide – voting will be open until Wednesday evening:

CLICK NEXT TO VOTE

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Notre Dame Football: Remembering National Champion George Williams

Williams played a key role in Pat Terrell’s game-winning deflection against Miami in the famed Catholics vs. Convicts game of 1988 and after doing some reading, it’s obvious he was absolutely adored by his teammates.

I’m not one to jump behind caskets and act like someone meant a ton more to me than they ever did.  When someone dies I look up to I acknowledge them, the situation and try to carry on.

Some effect greatly.  I never was a huge Kobe Bryant fan aside from collecting his basketball cards as a pre-teen, but for a variety of reasons that death hit me like a ton of bricks.  Maybe it was because he was only a few years older than me, maybe it’s because he was one of the last athletes from my youth that appeared bigger than life and invincible or maybe it’s because I’m a new father of a young daughter and thinking about all the details of his passing was just flat out difficult to imagine.

Former Notre Dame defensive tackle and key member of the national championship team in 1988, George Williams, died this past weekend at just 50 years old after suffering from hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.

I’m not going to pretend to know a ton about him or act like he was one of my favorite players because that wouldn’t be sincere.  I was familiar with the name, could tell you his position but I couldn’t share for a second how great of a player he was or how great of a person he was because I simply just have no memories as I was just two when Notre Dame won it all in 1988.

Williams played a key role in Pat Terrell’s game-winning deflection against Miami in the famed Catholics vs. Convicts game of 1988 and after doing some reading, it’s obvious he was absolutely adored by his teammates.

Tim Prister of Irish Illustrated does a great job breaking down games, recruiting and so much more but has a knowledge of Notre Dame football history that few can touch.  He wrote a worth-while piece about Williams on Wednesday morning that is worth reading in full when you have a few minutes as he gets quotes from some of the biggest names attached to that ’88 squad.

Here’s some of what Prister got from one of Williams’s former teammates, Reggie Brooks:

“As a player, absolutely tenacious,” Brooks said. “I was on the scout team and I was trying to run away from him most of the time. It was tough sledding watching the o-line trying to block him.

“He was one of the fiercest nose tackles I played against. So quick and explosive for a big guy. Extremely agile. He was coming for you.”

After college Williams spent part of 1992 with the Cleveland Browns.

George Williams was just 50 years old and is survived by his wife and two children.