Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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54 SEPT. 21, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED T here is not a more enjoyable and re- freshing interview on the 2018 Notre Dame team than junior cornerback and All-America candidate Julian Love. Typically upbeat, introspective and congenial without being Pollyanna, Love was transparent as ever during the week following Notre Dame's hard- fought 24-16 victory over 34.5-point underdog Ball State. "Let's be honest — we overlooked Ball State and what they could do," Love said. "They're a solid team that played with great fight. I was frustrated with our approach, more than anything." Nevertheless, Love also took some sol- ace and more wisdom from the outcome. "I thought we handled adversity when we realized we were in a battle," he said. "Our entire defense stepped up, and we played pretty well. It was more so the approach of our team that got me frustrated a little. "In college football, when you don't prepare to your full capabilities and still come out with a win, it's always a good day. I had to calm myself down and real- ize that. My family, my girlfriend helped me realize that we won the game." Naturally, the familiar quotes about "a good learning experience for life," or "not taking anything for granted" or "getting a wake-up call" were replete amongst Notre Dame players and head coach Brian Kelly afterwards — just as they have been in every locker room through the decades, or even century. The reality is no matter how many times one talks about learning their lessons about overlooking or taking an opponent lightly, it is a part of human nature to have letdowns along the way. In college football especially, what is vital is "timing" those letdowns cor- rectly (more on that later). I often like to tell people that perhaps the three most emotion-laden or stun- ning victories in Notre Dame football an- nals were the 1928 "One For The Gipper" victory over unbeaten superpower Army, the astounding comeback at unbeaten Ohio State in 1935 that in 1969 was voted the greatest college game in the first 100 years of football (1869-1969), and the stunning upset at Oklahoma in 1957 that ended the Sooners' NCAA-record 47- game winning streak (which included a 40-0 win at Notre Dame the year prior). In Notre Dame lore, though, those epic moments will gloss over "the rest of the story." The week after winning one for the Gipper … Notre Dame was whipped at home by Carnegie Tech (27-7). The week after the dramatic 1935 rally at Ohio State that put the Irish in the driver's seat for the national title … it lost at home (14-7) to a Northwestern team that entered with a sub-.500 re- cord and had lost to Ohio State, 28-7. The week after the colossal upset of Oklahoma in 1957, Notre Dame fell at home to a good Iowa team (21-13). It's not a modern or "Generation X" mindset to have letdowns. It is perpet- ual through all eras. I first experienced and understood it as a 10-year-old in 1972 when Ara Par- seghian's No. 8-ranked and unbeaten Irish were nearly five-touchdown fa- vorites at home against a Missouri team that not only finished 1-9 the year prior but the week before the game at Notre Dame lost 62-0 at Nebraska. The Tigers then stunned the Irish, 30-26. A couple of years later against the reigning national champion Notre Dame team in Parseghian's last year, four-touchdown underdog Purdue took a 24-0 first-quarter lead at Notre Dame en route to a 31-20 win. One can always talk about "learning" from the Missouri game two years ear- lier, but we are human and mortal. The future generation would witness in 1993 a 10-0, No. 1 Notre Dame team, the week after defeating No. 1 Florida State, losing at home to a Boston Col- lege unit it had obliterated 54-7 the year prior. (By the way, BC would lose the following week as well.) Although Lou Holtz (1986-96) was re- nowned as a motivator supreme, he ac- knowledged in a one-on-one interview his first year that in the course of a foot- ball season a team will be at an emotional peak/fervor in maybe three games — and for each such high, a low would also occur at some point. Pivotal was those ebb tide moments occurring at the right time. For example, the 1988 national champs had emotional peaks spread out in Game 1 (Michigan), Game 6 (Miami) and Game 11 (at USC) against top tier foes, and the lows came against a Michigan State team that started 0-4-1, 6-5 Pitt and a Navy team — a 22-7 victory, with quarterback Tony Rice temporarily getting benched — that finished 0-8 against Football Bowl Subdivision competition. Wa ke - u p ca l l s i n a t h l e t i c s a n d throughout life generally remain, no matter how often we are reminded of painful lessons from the past. ✦ BEST OF THE FIFTH QUARTER ✦ LOU SOMOGYI ✦ SEPT. 24, 2018 Letdowns Remain Eternal, Despite 'Learning' EDITOR'S NOTE: The late, great Lou Somogyi possessed an unmatched knowledge of Notre Dame football, and it was his mission in life to share it with others. Those of us at Blue & Gold Illustrated would like to continue to provide his wis- dom and unique perspective from his more than 37 years covering the Fighting Irish for this publication. Even the 1993 Irish that were 10-0 and ranked No. 1 in the country couldn't avoid the dreaded letdown. After beating then-No. 1 Florida State in an epic game, Notre Dame lost at home to a Boston College unit it had obliterated 54-7 the year prior. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS