Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 19, 2026 15 55 Years Ago: Sept. 18, 1971 Against a Northwestern team that went on to finish 7-4 and second to Michigan in the Big Ten race, No. 2 Notre Dame intercepted a school- record-tying 7 passes in a 50-7 rout of the Wildcats. Three of them were picked off by safety Ken Schlezes, and two others were returned for 40- and 65-yard touchdowns by cornerback Ralph Stepaniak and safety Mike Crotty, respectively. The team total of 185 interception return yards remained a single-game program record until Nov. 30, 2024, when the Irish produced 199 return yards on 2 interceptions in a 49-35 victory at Southern Cal. The Notre Dame defense also recovered 2 fumbles, and All-American end Walt Patulski blocked a punt to set up the game's first touchdown. The defen- sive front four, with future first-round picks Patulski (No. 1 overall pick) and Mike Kadish, plus second-round selection Greg Marx and third-round choice Fred Swendsen, was a main reason why Sports Illustrated selected Notre Dame No. 1 in its preseason edition. Overlooked was the fact that 1970 Heisman Trophy runner-up Joe Theis- mann had to be replaced at quarterback. Pat Steenberge and Bill Etter took turns at the throttle against Northwestern, but the Irish completed only 9 of 27 passes. SI defended its selection by running the following headline after the North- western game: "A Cheerleader Could Run This Team." 45 Years Ago: Sept. 14, 1981 History repeated itself when Notre Dame was elevated to No. 1 just one game into first-year head coach Gerry Faust's regime. Two days earlier, in his Irish debut, Faust led the No. 4 Irish to a 27-9 vic- tory against LSU. Coupled with preseason No. 1 Michigan's stunning loss to Wisconsin in its opener that same day, Notre Dame leapfrogged past a couple of other teams, including defending national champ Georgia, to claim the top spot. Twenty-seven years earlier in 1954, another first-year Notre Dame head coach, 26-year-old Terry Brennan, moved from No. 2 to No. 1 after just one game when his Irish defeated No. 4 Texas 21-0 at home. "I think I'll retire now," Faust joked to members of the media. Alas, history would repeat again five days later. Brennan's top-ranked Notre Dame team in 1954 lost in Week 2 at home to Purdue, 27-14. Meanwhile, Faust's 1981 squad faced a buzz saw the following week at Michigan and got whipped, 25-7. 40 Years Ago: Sept. 13, 1986 In Lou Holtz's inaugural game as Notre Dame's head coach, his Fighting Irish made history with a 24-23 loss at home to No. 3 Michigan. Although it marked a school-record third straight year Notre Dame lost its opener, it became the first team in the 50-year history of the Associated Press poll to go from unranked to ranked (No. 20, which is all the AP ranked then) after a defeat. Against a vaunted Michigan defense that surrendered only 5 touchdowns a year earlier, Notre Dame racked up 455 yards of total offense and never punted. Its downfall was three red-zone turnovers, with fumbles at the Wol- verine 7- and 15-yard lines, and an interception in the end zone on a fade by quarterback Steve Beuerlein, who finished 21-of-33 passing for 263 yards. The Irish also lost a fumble on a kickoff that set up a Michigan touchdown. Trailing in the fourth quarter 24-20, a Beuerlein pass into the end zone was caught by tight end Joel Williams, but the official ruled him out of bounds — even though the Michigan ball boy standing right by the play admitted after the game that Williams was in bounds. Finally, stellar senior kicker John Carney not only missed an extra point in the defeat, but his 45-yard attempt with 18 seconds left in the contest — he had been 15 of 16 in his career from 40 to 49 yards — went awry. "I've never seen so many things go so wrong on close little things in my life," Holtz said afterward. The Irish departed the field to a standing ovation. A year earlier they had finished 5-6, capped by a 58-7 loss at Miami. 30 Years Ago: Sept. 14, 1996 For only the third time in Notre Dame Stadium's 66-year history, a Fighting Irish player returned the game's opening kickoff for a touchdown. Junior cornerback Allen Rossum achieved the feat with a 99-yard return against Purdue to spark a 35-0 victory against the Boilermakers and head coach Jim Colletto, who would be hired as the Fighting Irish offensive coor- dinator a few months later. The only other two times that Notre Dame returned an opening kickoff at home for a score were George Melinkovich's 98-yard return versus North- western in 1932 and Terry Brennan's 97-yard score against Army in 1947. 25 Years Ago: Sept. 15, 2001 Notre Dame's game at Purdue was postponed several days earlier because of the Sept. 11 al-Qaeda attacks on the nation that led to the loss of 2,977 lives at New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and from the four plane crashes orchestrated by 19 members of the terror- ist organization. The game was rescheduled in West Lafayette, Ind., for Dec. 1. It was the first time a Notre Dame football game was aborted since Nov. 23, 1963, at Iowa, one day after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 15 Years Ago: Sept. 17, 2011 Trailing 28-13 late in the fourth quarter, Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins drove the Spartans to the Notre Dame 3-yard line. The Fighting Irish's Robert Blanton intercepted a pass and returned it 82 yards, setting up a score that helped seal the 31-13 win for Notre Dame. Blanton finished the contest with 6 stops, 3 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 3 passes broken up and that huge interception. Offensively, running backs Jonas Gray and Cierre Wood combined for 138 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground. UNDER THE DOME Anniversaries In Notre Dame Football History: Sept. 13-19 In 1996, junior cornerback Allen Rossum became the third player in Notre Dame Stadium history to return the game's opening kickoff for a touch- down, going 99 yards against Purdue to spark a 35-0 victory. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS