Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 27, 2021 13 95 Years Ago: Nov. 27, 1926 In what Blue & Gold Illustrated has ranked as the greatest upset win ever against Notre Dame football, head coach Knute Rockne's unbeaten Fighting Irish, the front-runner to capture their second consen- sus national title in three years, loses 19-0 in front of a capacity audience of 45,000 at Carnegie Tech. The Pittsburgh-based engineering school (renamed Carnegie Mellon in 1967) had fewer than 30 players, was coached part-time by a Chicago-based judge, Walter Steffen and had been outscored by Notre Dame 111-19 in the previous four seasons, including 26-0 the year prior. The 8-0 Irish also had outscored its opponents 197-7 this season, with seven shutouts. Per Murray A. Sperber's "Shake Down The Thunder: The Creation of Notre Dame Football," Rockne's agent Christy Walsh (also the agent for Babe Ruth) had him, Stanford's Pop Warner and Yale's Tad Jones watch and write about the Army-Navy game at Chicago in a publicity event. Wrote Rockne in his acceptance: "The game in Pittsburgh will not be important enough … I can (put) it in charge of someone else." With Steffen and Carnegie Tech fired up about the slight, assistant coach Hunk Anderson's Irish fall behind 13-0 by halftime and flounder thereafter. With Rockne back at the helm the next week, the Irish win 13-12 at 8-1 USC — the first meeting ever with the Trojans — but the 1926 national title is split among Stanford, Alabama and Lafayette. 95 Years Ago: Dec. 4, 1926 In their first meeting ever, 8-1 Notre Dame defeats 8-1 USC 13- 12 in front of a capacity crowd at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (74,378). Trailing 12-7 in the closing min- utes, Fighting Irish head coach Knute Rockne inserts 5-7 left- handed backup quarterback Art Pa- risien, who drives the Irish 61 yards to the game-winning touchdown, highlighted by a 23-yard touchdown pass to halfback John Niemiec while scrambling away from pressure on third-and-13 with two minutes left. 75 Years Ago: Dec. 2, 1946 Two days after defeating No. 16 USC 26-6 at home, No. 2 Notre Dame usurps No. 1 Army in the final Associated Press poll to win its second national title under head coach Frank Leahy. The decision is considered controversial. First, Army was the two-time reigning national champion and did not lose for the third straight season. Second, when the Cadets and Fighting Irish played to a 0-0 draw at Yankee Stadium Nov. 9, Army remained No. 1 because of the unwritten rule that in a draw, the challenger cannot take the crown from the champion. The tipping point was whereas Notre Dame ended the season with "style points" against USC, Army managed only a 21-18 win over Navy, with the Midshipmen in the shadow of the Army goal line when time expired. Notre Dame had defeated Navy 28-0 earlier in the year. The Irish received 104 first-place votes from the AP, while Army had only half of that total with 52. Unbeaten and untied Georgia and UCLA had 23 and two, respectively. 65 Years Ago: Dec. 5, 1956 For the fifth time in 14 years, a Notre Dame player is awarded the Heisman Trophy — the most unique one in college football history. The first four Irish players — quarterbacks Angelo Bertelli (1943) and John Lujack (1947), end Leon Hart (1949) and running back Johnny Lattner (1953) — all played on unbeaten and/or national title teams. In 1956, quarterback Paul Hornung starred on a 2-8 Fighting Irish unit. The "Golden Boy" collects 1,066 points in the balloting while running back Johnny Majors of un- beaten Tennessee finishes a close second with 994. Oklahoma's Tom McDonald (973) and Gerry Tubbs (724) were third and fourth, respectively, while leading the Sooners to their third straight unbeaten season. The top eight were rounded out by future All-Pros Jim Brown (Syracuse), Ron Kramer (Michi- gan), John Brodie (Stanford) and Jim Parker (Ohio State). Hornung remains the lone player to win the award while playing for a losing team. Anniversaries In Notre Dame Football History: Nov. 27-Dec. 5 UNDER THE DOME YOU DON'T WAIT FOR MAIL DELIVERY! HAVE TO The digital edition of Blue & Gold Illustrated is available Sundays at BlueGoldOnline.com The Blue & Gold Illustrated digital edition includes all the great content you find in your print edition, plus: ✦ Searchable archive ✦ Downloadable PDFs ✦ Available on computers and tablets Visit BlueGoldOnline.com for the latest issue every Sunday! It's already part of your subscription! PLUS: The Blue Gold Report Midweek Update! • Emailed Every Pre-Game Wednesday • Depth Charts And Rosters For Both Teams • Updated Statistics • Columns and Much More! • Can be viewed on your computer, phone or tablet, or printed out to read later. To receive notifications, please send your email address to: newsletter@blueandgold.com. Customer Service: 1-800-421-7751 Notre Dame edged USC 13-12 in front of a capacity crowd of 74,378 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in the first meeting ever between the two rivals on Dec. 4, 1926. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS