Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Star State in 2009 and 2013, and will travel there again in 2016 when they play Army in San Antonio. Notre Dame and Texas A&M have played five previous times — the first three in the Cotton Bowl — and the Irish lead the series 3-2. The Aggies defeated Notre Dame in the 1988 Cotton Bowl (35-10), but the Irish won the 1993 (28-3) and 1994 (24-21) Cotton Bowls against Texas A&M teams that entered the game 12-0 and 10-1, respectively. The two programs then had a home-and-home series in 2000-01. The Irish won 24-10 in South Bend to open the 2000 campaign, but the next year dropped a 24-3 decision in College Station to drop to 0-3 for the first time in its history. This was the latest of two-year, home-and-home scheduling agreements for the Irish that include Georgia (2017 and 2019) and Ohio State (2022 and 2023). When asked to comment about the Texas A&M series, a smiling Irish head coach Brian Kelly replied: "I'll be sipping a Mai Tai on a beach somewhere watching that game." — Lou Somogyi UNDER THE DOME On Sept. 17, former University of Notre Dame football stars Bob Kuechenberg (1966-68) and Tom Zbikowski (2004-07) were inducted into the Chicago- land Sports Hall of Fame. Kuechenberg, who also received the George Con- nor Lifetime Achievement Award, started at right offensive tackle as a sophomore for the 1966 national champs. The Gary, Ind., native then moved to defen- sive tackle his final two seasons and also started at third base for the baseball team his senior year. Afterwards, he earned even more renown in the NFL, where he signed a free-agent contract with the Miami Dolphins in 1970 and played 15 seasons at offensive guard, earning six Pro Bowl honors and first-team All-Pro accolades in 1975 and 1978. Kue- chenberg started on the 1972 and 1973 Super Bowl champions, with the '72 unit recording the lone per- fect record (17-0) in NFL history. A native of Park Ridge, Ill., Zbikowski earned All- America honors as an Irish safety in both 2005 and 2006, including third-team selections both years from the Associated Press and second team from the Wal- ter Camp Football Foundation in 2006. The two-time captain recorded 300 career tackles — the most ever by a Notre Dame defensive back — eight interceptions and 757 career punt return yards, and scored seven touchdowns, three of them on punt returns. A third-round selection of the Baltimore Ravens, Zbikowski spent four seasons with the Ravens (2008-11), plus one each with the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears. He also recorded four wins as a professional boxer. The two joined a long list of Notre Dame repre- sentatives in the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame, alphabetically including: Norman J. Barry, Pete Ber- cich, Rocky Bleier, Terry Brennan, Tony Carey, Dave Casper, George Connor, Ziggy Czarobski, Dave Duer- son, Jerry Groom, Paul Hornung, Jim Johnson, Moose Krause, John Lattner, Elmer Layden, Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, John Paxson, Nick Rassas, Knute Rockne, Jim Seymour, Dan Shannon, Father John Smyth, Gene Sullivan, Tom Thayer, Renaldo Wynn and Chris Zorich. — Lou Somogyi CHICAGOLAND SPORTS HALL OF FAME ADDS TWO MORE FROM NOTRE DAME