Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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6 NOV. 29, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED FACT CHECKERS Just read the article about power confer- ence teams Notre Dame has never played. The Irish played TCU in 1972. It was the first game I ever went to. Eric Chamberlin We've already played TCU. We defeated the Frogs 21-0 in 1972 during my sopho- more year at ND. They croaked! Just kee- pin' you honest! I've been a subscriber for about 30 years. (Look it up.) Keep up the good work! Go Irish!! Lee Handwerker Collierville Tenn. Mr. Chamberlin and Mr Handwerker, we stand corrected. Thanks for keeping us hon- est. Upon further review, Notre Dame and TCU did indeed meet on Oct. 28, 1972, with the Fighting Irish prevailing 21-0 over the Horned Frogs. Though details about the game are hard to come by, we did find an image of the game program. For the record, after the Irish play Auburn (SEC), the list of Power Four teams Notre Dame has never played will shrink to five: Central Florida (now in the Big 12), Kansas State (Big 12), Kentucky (SEC), Mississippi State (SEC) and Texas Tech (Big 12). It is not out of the realm of pos- sibility that Notre Dame could face Texas Tech in this year's College Football Playoff, but both teams need to finish the season strong to ensure a bid. CORRECTION My name is Bob Neidert. I played defensive end for Notre Dame during the 1970 season. Thank you for mentioning my blocking of a field goal in the LSU game on Nov. 21, 1970 (page 13 Anni- versaries of Notre Dame Football). However, you misspelled my name — "Bob Neidrt." Please make a correction in your next issue. I would ap- preciate that. Bob Neidert ND 1971 Stow, Ohio Our apologies for the typo, Mr. Neidert. We regret the error, thanks for bringing it to our attention. No typo can take that mo- ment away from you, though. Your effort to lay out and block that kick will always be etched in Notre Dame's storied football history. TEAM GAME The individual statistics you often show "Team" rushing and passing. What consti- tutes a "Team" statistic? Tom Monahan Mr. Monahan, here is what it says in the basic interpretations section of the official NCAA football statistics manual: "In the fair application of statistical rules, there are certain situations during which individual losses should be absorbed by team statistics. In a clarification of previous policies, a team rush should be charged when a quarterback kneels down in order to run out the clock. Also, a team pass attempt should be charged when a quarterback throws a pass into the ground in order to stop the clock. In neither instance should the individual player be charged with the play." FAN FORUM BE HEARD! Send your letters to: steve.downey@on3.com or mail to: Blue & Gold Illustrated, P. O. Box 2331, Durham, NC 27702 When Rivals released its updated 2026 rankings Nov. 17, Notre Dame checked in with a nation-best six top-32 prospects (the threshold for five-star status). The Irish also had 16 commits in the Rivals300, trailing only Georgia's 17. (See our recruiting notes on page 43 for more details.) Fans reacted to that impressive showing on our message board at BlueandGold. com. Here's a snippet of what they had to say. Avicii: Never thought I'd see the day. Beef2025: Freeman for President. Lifetime deal at 12M per with escalators to always keep him in top 5 highest paid. FWCOACH: As I've stated many times, I LOVE this class. Nice to see the rankings reflect just how talented this class is. [Safety Ayden] Pouncey being the 7th-best commit is wild. That kid is a baller!! Good and deserved move up for him. Into the top 100 now. I'm going to continue to stand on my soapbox for Tyler Merrill. I am dumbfounded by his ranking. … This is a three-star??????? He's pass-blocking HS DTs with one arm. He pulls a lot and he really shows his movement skills on screens. He's at least a top-250 kid and I would have him top 100 like ESPN does. Merrill is the only ranking I have a problem with. I doubt there are 168 better WRs than Faison but he also isn't 6-4 and he isn't a burner. So, I get it. Overall, elite class!! Steeltown67: If ND finishes with six five-stars, that's over 20% of their class. What's better, a 78% BCR [blue-chip ratio] or 22% Five-Star Ratio? Haha. Rvalente7: Wow! HotCarNut: Just absolutely night and day vs. the BK years. Freeman and Co. have done, and continue to do, such a great job of showing the entire value of Notre Dame. Seeing alumni back, NFL guys entrusting their sons to this coaching staff, kids like Ausberry with ties to the SEC choosing ND … I truly don't take this for granted. Bravo to Coach Freeman and the rest of the team! pnicknish: Really hoping [Noah] Grubbs can outperform expectations. The 40th-ranked QB in the class is not ideally what Notre Dame should be signing. akshatshekhar: Great update for many, especially Pouncey, [offensive tackle Charlie] Thom and [defensive lineman Elijah] Golden. We are 0.124 behind Or - egon and 0.261 behind UGA in the industry ranks — perhaps a [safety Matt] Sieg signing could vault us into #3 or even #2! buckey: Good stuff. Something special going on here. Call it 4 for 40, call it [Marcus Freeman] a players' coach and sincere about his guys, call it the family feel recruits get on campus, call it the emphasis on religion and spirituality, call it the community feeling of players. And of course performance on the field. I think we have it all for most kids. FROM THE WEB .com .com JOIN THE CONVERSATION AT BLUEANDGOLD.COM! Sign up for just $1 for the first seven days! Notre Dame played and defeated TCU 21-0 on Oct. 28, 1972. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS