Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1510565
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 4, 2023 5 FAN FORUM FIRST-HAND REPORT Your "By the Numbers" claim of a 28-20 ND victory over Penn on Nov. 5, 1955 (see Sept. 9 edition; Vol. 43, Issue 2) had me going for a while. The 28-20 ND victory was in 1953, however. ND beat the Quak- ers 46-14 in 1955. I should know since I was at the game. Frank Riepe took the open- ing kickoff 109 yards for a Penn touchdown. Paul Hornung missed the last tackle. It was the longest run in college football history; it still is. I was on the sidelines for the closing minutes of the game. I was 10. My dad asked Paul Hornung if he "could do something for the kid." He gave me his blanket. Later, in the early 2000s, my dad ran into Paul on the ND campus at a game and recounted the incident to him. Paul was stunned, speech- less but his eyes revealed that he remembered. Terry Sweeney Scranton, Pa. P.S. I wonder if I'm the only one who was at that game who is still alive … LOL. Mr. Sweeney, thanks for your interest in our publication and thanks for fol- lowing up with us on that edition of "By The Numbers." First, great story about Paul Hornung. Second, indeed you are correct. We mistakenly jotted down the 1953 score. Here is a breakdown of all six games the two schools played (all but the 1931 contest were played at Pennsylva- nia's Franklin Field): Year Result 1930 Notre Dame 60, Penn 20 1931 Notre Dame 49, Penn 0 1952 No. 10 Notre Dame 7, No. 12 Penn 7 1953 No. 1 Notre Dame 28, No. 15 Penn 20 1954 No. 5 Notre Dame 42, Penn 7 1955 No. 6 Notre Dame 46, Penn 14 BE HEARD! Send your letters to: Letters, Blue & Gold Illustrated, P. O. Box 2331, Durham, NC 27702 or e-mail to: sdowney@comanpub.com With the football team enjoying its first bye week of the season Oct. 21, it gave Fighting Irish fans an opportunity to turn their attention to the upcom- ing basketball season. Here is some of the discussion that took place during the football bye week on our message board at BlueandGold.com. WickedBroncoProd7170: Honestly, this might be the most excited I've ever been for Notre Dame basketball, mainly because after the back-to-back Elite Eights it seemed the air slowly went out of the program. Now that Mike Brey is gone and we have a younger coach who seems to have had the "Freeman Effect," except this time for the MBB team, I'm excited to see what this young talented team can do. We will be playing a ton of true freshmen who are extremely talented instead of seeing another year of sixth-year seniors. We may not do well this first year but I can't wait to watch this team. ND basketball seems cool again. ThroughAndThrough: Definitely! Most excited I've been in about five years. I'm not expecting this team to be dancing in March, but I'm hoping we can be over .500. IrishJD: [Micah] Shrewsberry is the real deal. I'm not an ND bball fan the same way I am for football, but I'll still be making it a point to watch them play. Penn State is typically a black hole for hoops, and his team was really fun last season. Telx: I'm looking forward to both the men's and women's basketball games. [Niele] Ivey is coaching and recruiting really well, and the ladies are going to be in the mix for a Final Four berth. The men will have lots of growing pains, but I expect Shrews will have his young team playing pretty competitive ball by season's end. fedman: I am excited to see the start of a new era of ND basketball where defense and rebounding is an actual concept rather than a vague rumor. But, I am also very concerned to see how Notre Dame manages to somehow manufacture points. I think the wins are going to be hard to come by this season. But I hope to see a team that hustles, plays hard and understands the fundamentals of the game. Irishchef3: I am excited, I don't think they will be that great of a team, but I think Coach Shrewsberry is going to build a legit program. I already see signs of it through recruiting and how he is using the portal. It might take a few seasons, but ND basketball is going to be relevant again very soon. CoopDog01: I'm pumped. It's really a brand-new program with brand-new players and systems. I wanna see the PG from SB [Markus Burton, the 2023 Indiana Mr. Basketball] kill it. I'm a big believer in that kid's ability to drive and more importantly finish. SilentBanjo: Think people might be underestimating this team. It's been well proven that you can win with talented, solidly coached freshmen, and there are some veterans to provide balance. Most encouraging is knowing that the roster's full resources will be employed and that a deeper rotation will guarantee that players on the floor won't be exhausted at game's end. So, yes, I'm excited. Johnnyh: I bet you right now ND makes the NCAA Tournament. You guys are vastly underrating what coach has in talent. This team is going to be much better than last year's team (not saying much). I am actually really looking forward to how the team looks. FROM THE WEBSITE .com .com Paul Hornung and the Irish crushed the Penn Quakers 46-14 in 1955. FILE PHOTO