Tag: touchdown jesus

ESPN college football writers rank Notre Dame Stadium fourth-best

Pretty good ranking.

College football will be here before you know it, and that means anticipation of going to its hallowed stadiums. Among those excited for it are the ESPN writers who cover the sport. To reflect that, ESPN asked 14 of them to rank their top 20 stadiums in order. From there, the top 25 stadiums would be determined.

Notre Dame Stadium comes in at fourth on the list behind LSU’s Tiger Stadium, the Rose Bowl and Michigan Stadium. Adam Rittenberg was given the honor talking about the Irish’s home:

“Since opening in 1930, Notre Dame Stadium has hosted some of college football’s most significant teams, players, coaches and moments. But the venue is known as much for what lies just beyond its northern edge as for what’s inside.

Since fall 1964, the ‘Word of Life’ mural on the university library tower has welcomed ball carriers to the north end zone. Known as ‘Touchdown Jesus,’ the mural depicts Jesus Christ with his arms raised, similar to the touchdown signal. Located a little more than a football field away from the Knute Rockne Gate, where Notre Dame players enter for each game, Touchdown Jesus is visible from a portion of seats in the south part of the stadium and is frequently shown in camera shots of Notre Dame contests.”

All things considered, this was as good a ranking as Notre Dame Stadium could have hoped for. Do you agree, or should it have been higher? But that’s the point of these lists. We debate them until the cows come home, and this should be no exception.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Big Game Boomer names Notre Dame nicest college campus

Irish fans are lucky to have so many wonderful things to look at.

If you’re reading this site, chances are you have been to the Notre Dame campus at least once. And you don’t need to be told how nice it looks.

Now, it’s at the top of the rankings in that area in at least one person’s opinion. Twitter user Big Game Boomer, who makes lists related to just about everything in college sports, released one that ranks the niceness of all Power Five campuses. Notre Dame topped the list:

Having made numerous trips to Notre Dame this past basketball season, I can attest to that niceness. A lovely autumn afternoon is the perfect time to check the campus out as the colored leaves really bring out the beauty. Of course, going at any time during the year is good. From the Golden Dome to Touchdown Jesus to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, there is no way anyone can leave campus feeling disappointed by what they just experienced.

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Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame football: History of Notre Dame clues on ‘Jeopardy!’

Post how many you got right in the comments.

It has been established more than once on this site that I am fanatical about game shows. With Notre Dame athletics on hiatus until fall save for the track team at the NCAA championships, I have time to try ideas I’ve been wanting to try for a while now. One of them was planted in my head after our own Nick Shepkowski reported on a “Jeopardy!” category that was about ACC schools. I’ve decided to take that idea and narrow the focus to “Jeopardy!” clues about Notre Dame.

Using the site J-Archive, which has records of nearly every game during the show’s current run, I have come across several Notre Dame clues. Many of them were repeats because that’s what happens when you’ve been on for 39 years. However, I feel like I’ve compiled a diverse list of clues that you should be able to respond to if you have even a basic knowledge of Notre Dame, particularly the football program. Check the end of this list for the correct responses:

Watch: Notre Dame Leprechaun makes snow angel by Touchdown Jesus

Who wouldn’t do this in the snow?

While the first day of spring is coming soon, we still very much are in winter. People in Midwest cities like South Bend won’t experience true warmth consistently for some time, probably in May. That means the possibility for snow remains strong, and it fell on Notre Dame’s campus Friday. With the men’s basketball team’s season over and the women awaiting Selection Sunday, the Notre Dame Leprechaun took the opportunity to set up shop in front of Touchdown Jesus and make a snow angel:

Sometimes, you just have to live your best life, and the Leprechaun is doing just that. He doesn’t need to be on a warm beach somewhere. He just needs to do what he can with the elements that choose to find their way to Notre Dame. If that means making a snow angel, you make a snow angel.

We know you can’t wait for summer, but let’s do that a little longer and think of all the good that winter provides.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

 

Hot dog king Joey Chestnut attending Notre Dame-Cincinnati

The GOAT is in the house!

Sometimes, when you’re playing a game, you find yourself in the presence of greatness. They probably don’t know it as of this writing, but the players on Notre Dame and Cincinnati have a true American hero watching them. Among the legions of Irish and Bearcats fans at a sold-out Notre Dame Stadium is Joey Chestnut, the greatest eater of hot dogs that ever lived. We know this because Chestnut himself tweeted out this photo of himself atop the seating bowl with Touchdown Jesus in the background:

The question now is whether Chestnut will seek out any of the players or coaches after this game. Based on what he’s wearing, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out which program he’s getting behind. In any case, a true GOAT is here, and it will be amazing if anyone in the stands who hasn’t seen this tweet already is able to recognize him.

A Notre Dame July Bowl Projection because why not?

We don’t know much about what the next college football season will look like but we do know it will be something none of us have ever seen before. It may seem a bit far-fetched but why not have some fun and take a peak at a Notre Dame bowl projection that was recently released.

As we’ve seen in the last few days the college football season is very much up in the air as conferences continue to announce they’re only playing themselves this fall.

We don’t know much about what the next college football season will look like but we do know it will be something none of us have ever seen before.

With that preface, 247Sports recently released their July edition of bowl projections and whatever formula they used for schedules, they have Notre Dame headed to what has been a fairly regular destination of late.

It falls short of the College Football Playoff that Notre Dame fans clearly desire but it’s still a marquee game against a marquee opponent.  The projection you ask?

Fiesta Bowl vs. Oregon

Although the specific bowl game doesn’t thrill me since we’ve all seen them already play there a bunch, the match-up certainly does.  Oregon enters the year with high expectations after a Rose Bowl win and top five finish last season.  If it’s not the College Football Playoff, it doesn’t get much better than this for the Irish.

It would be Notre Dame’s sixth ever appearance in the Fiesta Bowl which would move it to the second most common bowl game in Irish history as they’ve played in the Cotton Bowl eight times.  Notre Dame has also played in the Orange Bowl five times to date.

The game, as impossible as it may feel to happen this season, would mark just the third meeting between Notre Dame and Oregon.  The Irish blanked the Ducks 41-0 in their 1976 meeting in South Bend before the two played to a 13-13 tie in Eugene, in 1982.