Great game, you can take solace in the fact that Notre Dame lost in part because they hit the runner TOO hard on the second to last play of the game, sending the ball flying out of bounds and stopping the clock. If the clock had continued to run after that play USC would probably not have had time to reset for a final play.
Sas, I think that was the greatest game a lot of us have ever seen! Incredible! Neither team had anything else to give after this was over, they left it all out on the field....
For the Irish to come back after USC scored with 5 minutes left on Bush's run was amazing...ND's QB was awesome during that drive, and made a great run for their final TD.
Gutsy calls and gutsy plays on both sides! After Leinert got sacked, that could have been it...but no....4th and 9...man, oh man...and Leinert's pass almost hit the ND defender, who had his back to the play...
Then I thought the receiver might be gone on the 4th and 9 completion, but ND once again, didn't give up... receiver was caught from behind...
Even after the 4th and 9 completion, I still couldn't help thinking about all of the winning streaks that have ended right there in that very stadium...
If Leinert is just stopped with the ball at the 1 yd line, instead of the ball going out of bounds, the game's over, there's no way for USC to run another play...
I understand what Weis is saying when he says there are no good loses, and talking about how upset his players were about the loss, but I think most of the players will look back on this game and be proud to have taken part in it...it might take 'em 20 years to feel that way, but eventually, they will...
Congratulations to USC and to Notre Dame, for giving us the best game most of us have ever seen. How's the National Championship game gonna top THIS??
(I looked at the games ESPN listed on their 'best game of the last 35 years' poll... this was the best of them, no doubt about it).
Originally posted by sasquatch672boy Sas, growing up (I was born in 59) I always hated Notre Dame...not really their football team, just their basketball team... I was a UCLA fan during the John Wooden years, and you can probably see where this is heading...
I am a huge fan of Notre Dame. Especially Notre Dame football. Always have been....
Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame
Wake up the echoes cheering her name
Send a volley cheer on high
Shake down the thunder from the sky!
What tho the odds be great or small
Old Notre Dame will win over all
While her loyal sons are marching
Onward to victory!
In 1973, UCLA beat ND for their 61st consecutive win, which broke the record set by Bill Russell's USF teams in the mid-50s...
The streak reached 88 in a row, when UCLA paid a little visit to South Bend, blew a 11 point lead in the last 3 minutes, and the streak was over...it didn't matter that UCLA blew ND off the Pauley Pavilion Court a week later... the streak was over....
Jan 19, 1974 (I remember the date bacause it was my brother's birthday, exactly one year to the day after I'd seen the Globetrotters at Madison Sq Garden)...
But I've always admired ND's football program...year after year during the 70s, when I first started following college football, ND's schedule was unbelievable! Pittsburgh (w/T. Dorsett, later w/ Dan Marino), Penn State, Michigan (who was a pre-season # 1 just about every year during the 70s), Alabama, Texas, USC, Nebraska... what a brutal schedule, year after year...they took 'em all on... they didn't care, they'd play anyone, anywhere, anytime!
Obviously, you don't put an end to all of those great winning streaks unless you play the best.
I think college football overall is much better when ND fields a great team...that way, everyone can root one way or the other...love 'em or hate 'em! Easily the most polarizing team in the history of college football....
And, ND does have the best fight song as well...
