Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/216396
Other Memorable Months While the 4-0 November 1913 might have been the most important and impressive calendar month in Notre Dame annals, at least five others are worth noting when combining relevance, impact, record and competition. Chronologically, they include: November 1929 This 5-0 stretch clinched head coach Knute Rockne's second consensus national title — and none of those five victories came at home. The Irish traveled the entire season while Notre Dame Stadium was under construction. The stretch began Nov. 2 with a 26-6 victory at Georgia Tech — a team that had defeated Notre Dame 13-0 the previous season. The ensuing two victories were played at Chicago's Soldier Field, 19-7 versus Drake (Nov. 9) and 13-12 against USC (Nov. 16), another team that had defeated Notre Dame a year earlier (27-14). Furthermore, the game versus the Trojans was played before a listed audience of 112,912. Finally, the month closed with a 26-6 victory at Northwestern (Nov. 23) and the national-title-clinching 7-0 win in Yankee Stadium against Army (Nov. 30). November 1943 No. 1-ranked Notre Dame vanquished three straight top-10 teams in as many weeks: No. 3 Army at Yankee Stadium Nov. 6 (26-0), at No. 8 Northwestern Nov. 13 (25-6) and then a pro-like World War II team, No. 2 Iowa Pre-Flight Nov. 20 (14-13) in the school's first-ever No. 1 versus No. 2 battle. Head coach Frank Leahy's Irish achieved this triple play with sophomore quarterback John Lujack, who had to replace Heisman Trophy winner Angelo Bertelli when he was called to begin officer's training Nov. 1 for World War II. The Irish did lose the season finale to another pro wartime team, Great Lakes (19-14), on a "Hail Mary" pass in the closing seconds, but because they defeated the teams that finished Nos. 2, 3, 4, 8, 11 and 13 they still finished No. 1. October 1964 Under first-year head coach Ara Parseghian, Notre Dame's renaissance from a 2-7 record the year prior — and 34-45 mark from 1956-63 — reached a crescendo with a 5-0 record in October that elevated them at the end of the month to No. 1 in the polls for the first time in 10 years. In consecutive weeks from Oct. 3-31, Notre Dame defeated Purdue (34-15), Air Force (34-7), UCLA (24-0), Stanford (28-6) and Navy (40-0) — the year after the Boilermakers, Cardinal (known as the Indians back then) and Midshipmen, still with Heisman Trophy winner Roger Staubach, had all beaten Notre Dame. The Irish make the front cover of Sports Illustrated in October, and a month later Parseghian was on Time magazine's cover. October 1988 Similar to the 1964 resurgence, this October had Notre Dame finishing 5-0 — and also reaching No. 1 right at the end of the month after a prolonged slump. The Irish had been 43-36-1 the previous seven years, losing a minimum of four games each season and finishing under .500 three times. From Oct. 1-29, Notre Dame defeated all five foes, highlighted by the epic 31-30 victory versus No. 1 Miami. Head coach Lou Holtz's team defeated Stanford (42-14) and Pitt (30-20) prior to Miami, and Air Force (41-13)