Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 12, 2019 15 UNDER THE DOME 95 Years Ago: Oct. 18, 1924 College football experiences its most fa- mous day ever for immortal nicknames. First, Illinois' halfback Harold "Red" Grange becomes "The Galloping Ghost" when in the first 12 minutes against a Michigan team that had not lost in 20 games he returns a kickoff for a 95-yard touchdown, and then adds scor- ing dashes of 67, 56 and 44 yards. He finishes with 402 all-purpose yards and five scores in the 39-14 upset. Meanwhile, at New York's Polo Grounds, esteemed sportswriter Grantland Rice of The New York Herald Tribune writes the most fa- mous football lead ever after Notre Dame's 13-7 victory versus Army: "Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore their names are Death, Destruction, Pes- tilence and Famine. But those are aliases. Their real names are [Harry] Stuhldreher, [Jim] Crowley, [Don] Miller and [Elmer] Layden." George Strickler, Notre Dame head coach Knute Rockne's student-aide for publicity, planted the seed in the press box by invoking the 1921 Rudolph Valentino movie "The Four Horsemen of The Apoca- lypse." Days after Rice's story, Strickler — a future editor for The Chicago Tribune — posed the all-senior backfield in their football uniforms, on the backs of horses. Stuhldreher was the quarterback, Miller and Crowley the halfbacks and Layden the fullback. At first Rockne chided Strickler for taking his players off the field for a publicity photo, but the master marketer later complimented him for "a good idea" after the wire services picked up the photo and ran it nationally. Notre Dame would go on to win its first consensus national title that year, assuring the immortality of The Four Horsemen. 70 Years Ago: Oct. 15, 1949 In a showdown between No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 4 Tulane — which would win the SEC title that season — head coach Frank Leahy's Fighting Irish race to a 27-0 first-quarter lead en route to a 46-7 victory, extending their unbeaten streak to 32 games. Halfback Larry Coutre scores on 14-, 81- and two-yard scoring runs in the first 10 minutes, and quarterback Bob Williams rounds out the first quarter scoring explosion with a 34-yard touchdown pass to Frank Spaniel. During the unbeaten streak, it was the second-highest ranking of an opponent Notre Dame defeated, other than winning 38-7 at No. 3 USC to clinch the 1947 national title. 20 Years Ago: Oct. 16, 1999 Trailing 24-3 in the second half and in the rain versus USC, quarterback Jarious Jackson leads the largest comeback home victory (to this day) by the Fighting Irish in the 69-year history of Notre Dame Stadium. On the game-winning score, Jackson scrambles 17 yards to the Trojans' 1-yard line, where he is jarred and fumbles — but tight end Jabari Holloway recovers it in the end zone with 2:40 left in the 25-24 victory. The comeback win from a 21-point deficit topped the previous school record at home set two weeks earlier when Notre Dame trailed Oklahoma 30-14 before winning 34-30. Five Years Ago: Oct. 18, 2014 In one of the most controversial finishes ever in a Notre Dame game, reigning national champion and No. 2 Florida State defeats the No. 5 Fighting Irish 31-27. An Everett Golson two-yard touchdown pass on third-and-goal to Corey Robinson (his third score of the game) with 13 seconds remaining is nullified when pass interference is called on wideout C.J. Prosise for a "pick play" that the Irish had run and succeeded on earlier. A fourth-and-goal desperation heave by Golson from his 17-yard line is then intercepted in the end zone to clinch the Seminoles' win. When watching the tape the next morning, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly was even more miffed. "It's pretty clear what happened on the play," Kelly said. "Florida State blew the coverage and they got rewarded for it. It's unfortunate." — Lou Somogyi Anniversaries In Notre Dame Athletics History: Oct. 13-19 Notre Dame rode "The Four Horsemen" — Don Miller, Elmer Layden, Jim Crowley and Harry Stuhldreher — all the way to the school's first con- sensus national championship in 1924. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS