A Notre Dame Blast From The Past
In my generation's initial following of Notre Dame athletics, this is what we grew up on, almost as a birthright.
Friday night/Saturday morning’s 91-89, last-second overtime triumph by the truly “Fighting Irish” women’s basketball program versus 36-0 and No.1 UConn evoked memories of a Notre Dame era when defeating No. 1 and achieving the seemingly impossible was virtually a ritual at the school, if not an athletic spiritual rite.
During an amazing 22-year stretch from Jan. 1, 1971 through Nov. 13, 1993, Notre Dame defeated an Associated Press No. 1-ranked football team seven times — and likewise a No. 1-ranked men’s basketball team seven times.
That’s not even including a win versus 11-0 Alabama in the 1975 Orange Bowl. The Crimson Tide was No. 2 in the AP poll — but No. 1 in the Coaches’ Poll (UPI) because the No. 1 AP team (Oklahoma) was on probation. Also, in December 1980 the Irish won in men's basketball at Kentucky, which was No. 1 in the coaches’ poll.
That’s a truly “Sweet 16” through 22 years versus No. 1, and unparallaled in NCAA annals in those two sports.
Now consider that in the 25 years hence, it occurred only twice in those two sports, both in basketball: a 67-58 triumph versus 20-0 and No. 1 Syracuse on Jan. 21, 2012, and an 80-76 conquest of North Carolina on Feb. 6, 2016.
Part of it is because the opportunities have been fewer, especially in football.
Since that conquest of Florida State in 1993, the football team has faced No. 1 only three times in the nearly quarter century thereafter. And unfortunately, maybe the two most celebrated gridiron efforts by Notre Dame in that period overall — evidence to some that the Irish were “on the way back” — were the 27-24 overtime loss at home to Nebraska in 2000, and the anguishing 34-31 heartbreak to USC, also at home, in 2005.
Those two defeats epitomized the challenge, and frustration, of just how difficult it is to vanquish or finish a No. 1-ranked team (the third was a far less competitive 41-10 loss at USC in 2004). It was further manifested with a gut-wrenching 31-27 defeat at No. 2 Florida State in October 2014.
In men’s basketball, the agony of such defeat occurred versus 37-0 and No. 1 Kentucky in the Elite 8 in 2015. The Irish held a 66-64 edge with two minutes remaining and missed on two opportunities to finish before losing 68-66 when a final, desperate three-point corner jumper by Jerian Grant was a little long.
Close, ever so close … but finishing off the No. 1 program, or a champion, is an onerous task in athletics.
During these past 25 years, friends I grew up with often consider ourselves so blessed to have been in our formative years of the aforementioned era, yet we also commiserate on how the “next generation” hasn’t fully experienced that football/men’s basketball magic.
Undoubtedly, one occurred in March 2015, when head coach Mike Brey’s troops winning the ACC Tournament joined the 1978 Final Four march as the two greatest tourney achievements ever at the program.
And in December 2012 under head coach Brian Kelly, 12-0 Notre Dame football had returned to No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time in 19 years, although the rapture quickly dissipated with a 42-14 defeat to Alabama in the BCS Championship.
Under Naismith Hall of Fame basketball coach Muffet McGraw, though, this is the third time it has defeated No. 1-ranked UConn in the national semifinals.
The first resulted in the 2001 national title with a 68-66 victory versus Purdue, and the second in 2011 was followed by a 76-70 defeat to Texas A&M — the No. 1 one-that-got-away-game in the program’s history.
This Sunday’s game versus 37-1 Mississippi State is the "rubber match", or what Finland was to the “Miracle On Ice” United States hockey team in the 1980 Winter Olympics Gold Medal game after the epic upset of the ostensibly invincible Soviet Union in the semifinals. Few remember that entering the third and final period against Finland the United States trailed 2-1 before winning. Had the game ended in a tie, the Soviets would have still won gold and the United State would have received the bronze medal … and no movie of the event likely would have been in production decades later.
Fortunately, most of Notre Dame’s No. 1 wins in football from 1971-93 came in bowl games, meaning no contest had to be played the next week, and the emotional letdown was not in play.
But the most recent time the Irish defeated No. 1 in football during the regular season, Florida State in 1993, it lost to Boston College at home the next week (and nothing has been quite the same since then).
For the record, they also lost the next week at home to Iowa the week after snapping Oklahoma’s record 47-game winning streak in 1957 … lost at home to Northwestern in 1935 the week after putting itself in the driver’s seat for the national title with a “Game of the Century” win at unbeaten Ohio State in 1935 … lost at home to Carnegie Tech in 1928 the week after the astounding “One For The Gipper” conquest of unbeaten Army in Yankee Stadium. Emotion is powerful in the moment, but can also play tricks on your mind,
The one-for-the-ages victory over No. 1 UConn truly woke up the echoes and shook down the thunder again in Notre Dame’s athletics roots and heritage. However, for it to become even more immortalized in Fighting Irish lore, defeating Finla … er, Mississippi State, on Sunday would be the icing.
Perhaps it was best reflected in NBA legend Kobe Bryant’s tweet to Dwight Clay … er, Arike Ogunbowale, following her legendary game-winning basket. A UConn fan who sat behind the Huskies’ bench, a gracious Bryant tweeted to Ogunbowale: “Big time shot Arike! ... Love seeing great players making great plays …good luck on Sunday.”
Replied Ogunbowale to Bryant via the social media vehicle: “Wow, my life is complete. The GOAT.”
Retorted Bryant: “Nah … it’s complete by finishing the job on Sunday.”
It would truly be the finishing touch to tie Notre Dame’s remarkable athletics past to its present, and one of the great stories overall already.
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