Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 18, 2025 13 105 Years Ago: Oct. 16, 1920 In its sixth straight visit to Nebraska since 1915 to enhance its financial intake, third-year head coach Knute Rockne's team — which won a share of a national title the prior year — recorded a 16-7 win despite getting outgained in total yardage by an astounding 550-174. A blocked punt by Buck Shaw and the timely running and passing of George Gipp resulted in Notre Dame's 12th straight win. 55 Years Ago: Oct. 17, 1970 The first meeting ever in football between No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 18 Missouri resulted in a 24-7 Fighting Irish victory in Columbia, Mo. No one could know at the time, but seventh-year Notre Dame head coach Ara Parseghian was facing the man who would be his successor five years later, Dan Devine, who before arriving in South Bend would be the head coach of the Green Bay Packers from 1971-74. Missouri took a 7-3 third-quarter lead before Joe Theismann touchdown passes to Thom Gatewood and Ed Gulyas, who later scored on a short run, led to the convincing Irish win. 50 Years Ago: Oct. 18, 1975 One week after recording its biggest fourth-quarter comeback win in its history — a 21-14 victory at North Carolina after trailing 14-0 — Notre Dame topped it after trailing at Air Force, 30-10. In a span of seven minutes, the Fighting Irish scored on a 3-yard run by sophomore quarterback Joe Montana, a 7-yard pass to sophomore tight end Ken MacAfee and a 1-yard run by freshman fullback Jerome Heavens, while kicker Dave Reeve converted all three extra points, the last with 3:23 remain- ing, for the 31-30 conquest. At 30-17, Montana threw his third interception of the day to Air Force's Jim Miller, who returned it to the Irish 15-yard line before fumbling. Notre Dame tackle Pat Pohlen recovered it, and that was the monumental break the Irish needed. 30 Years Ago: Oct. 14, 1995 Sophomore cornerback Ivory Covington made one of the most famous tackles in Notre Dame history to preserve a 28-27 victory versus Army at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. A furious Army rally had cut the Irish lead to one point with 39 seconds left, and the Black Knights then lined up for the two-point conversion for the lead (overtime in college football wouldn't begin until the next season). Quarterback Ron McAda rolled to his right and in the flat connected with 6-foot-3, 240-pound tight end Ron Leshinski at the 1-yard line for what looked like an easy tally — until the 5-9, 159-pound Cov- ington gained textbook leverage and wrapped up perfectly to drop him inches short of the goal line. "We always talk about how the low man wins," Covington said of his perfectly executed tackle. "I had some momentum going forward, and he was going sideways." The Irish then won out for a 9-2 regu- lar season that earned a trip, and wind- fall, to the Bowl Alliance and the Orange Bowl. Thus, Covington's stop was later referred to as "The $8-Million Tackle." 20 Years Ago: Oct. 15, 2005 With three seconds remaining, South- ern Cal quarterback Matt Leinart snuck in from a yard out, aided by a shove from running back Reggie Bush, as No. 1 and two-time reigning national champ Trojans edged No. 9 Notre Dame 34- 31 to extend its winning streak to 28 games. Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn had put the Irish up 31-28 with a 5-yard run at the 2:04 mark, but Southern Cal answered with a perfectly placed Lein- art to Dwayne Jarrett 61-yard pass on fourth-and-9 from its 26-yard line to set up the score. UNDER THE DOME Anniversaries In Notre Dame Football History: Oct. 12-18 The infamous "Bush Push" helped No. 1 and two-time reigning national champ Southern Cal edge No. 9 Notre Dame 34-31 on Oct. 15, 2005. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND NOTRE DAME STADIUM TO HOST LUKE COMBS CONCERT IN APRIL Notre Dame Stadium is going country again. On Oct. 9, it was announced that country music star Luke Combs will hold a concert at Notre Dame Stadium on April 18, 2026, as part of his "My Kinda Saturday Night" tour. Ty Myers will open for Combs, as well as Jake Worthington and duo Thelma & James. Just recently, Notre Dame Stadium played host to Zach Bryan for a sold-out show during the Fighting Irish's first bye week of the 2025 season during the first weekend of September. Comedian and well-noted Fighting Irish fan Shane Gillis opened for Bryan, along with Irish music icon Dermot Kennedy. The Combs concert will be the fifth-ever at Notre Dame Stadium. Tickets go on sale via Ticketmaster on Oct. 17. You can sign up for early access to tickets at LukeCombs.com. The venue is anticipating more than 80,000 fans for the event. Combs, 35, is a native of Huntersville, N.C. He's been an active country music artist since 2014. He's had several singles reach No. 1 on the Billboard country music chart, includ- ing "When It Rains It Pours," which was the second single on his major label debut album, "This One's For You." Combs has won 22 major awards and has re- ceived 74 nominations, according to his IMDB profile. His most recent Grammy nomination was this year for the "best song written for visual media" category. His song "Ain't No Love In Oklahoma" was the soundtrack to the movie "Twisters." — Tyler Horka THREE NOTRE DAME PLAYERS NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED AFTER WEEK 6 WIN Redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr headlined a trio of Irish players recognized for production through five games when he was named to the Freshman of the Year watch list Oct. 7, three days after a 28-7 Notre Dame win over Boise State. Carr was joined in being honored by sophomore cornerback Leonard Moore, who was named the Walter Camp FBS Defensive Player of the Week and Thorpe Award Defensive Back of the Week for having 2 interceptions and a forced fumble against Boise State. Through five games, Carr completed 67.7 percent of his passes and averaged 10.1 yards per attempt, which ranked sixth nationally, and he had the country's ninth-best pass efficiency rating of 177.8 Lastly, redshirt sophomore defensive end Bou- bacar Traore was named the Defensive Comeback Player of the Month by College Sports Communica- tors. Through five games, Traore led Notre Dame with 3.5 sacks and 4.5 tackles for loss after tearing his ACL and LCL in September 2024. — Tyler Horka