Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/421584
the Midshipmen and Staubach, 40-0, to move to No. 1 for the first time in 10 years. Michigan State had won a record eight straight games against Notre Dame … until the Irish ended it with a 34-7 tri- umph. The Notre Dame campus was electri- fied and the football players could not wait for the next day to keep learning from the new staff. "What I could see in 1964 was a group of hungry young guys because of their past sense of failure," Parseghian said. "Their expectations of living up to the school's standards were not fulfilled. As soon as they experienced a little success, I saw exhilaration overtake them, the feeling that they could get the job done and how something dramatic was in the making. "Practice normally can be a drudg- ery, a grind. But that year the players couldn't wait to come to practice. When it was over, they couldn't wait to start the next day. That whole season was such an upbeat atmosphere. When you walked into the Notre Dame locker room, your spirits were immediately lifted." USC … AND BEYOND Fifty years later, the 20-17 season-fi- nale loss at USC on Nov. 28, 1964, is still remembered by old-timers and histori- ans as the most heartbreaking defeat in school history. A 17-0 Irish halftime lead was gradu- ally whittled away, and several dubious officiating calls, most notably a phantom hold at the USC 1-yard line after an Irish touchdown to make it 23-7, were made. The Trojans eventually moved ahead on a clutch fourth-and-eight touchdown pass with only 1:33 remaining and hung on to win. Often overlooked is that Notre Dame did win a share of the national title that season among the NCAA's four recog- nized outlets during an era when the vote was taken at the end of the regular season. The AP and UPI (coaches) polls both awarded the title to Alabama (which would lose to Texas in the Orange Bowl). Arkansas received the nod from the Football Writers Association of America after winning the Cotton Bowl, while Notre Dame was awarded the MacAr- thur Bowl, emblematic of a national title, from the National Football Foundation. Huarte won the Heisman, while Snow finished fifth. Carroll earned All-Amer- ica notice at linebacker, Carey led the nation in interceptions with eight … but above all Notre Dame's spirit had re- turned. To this day, 1964 remains the template at Notre Dame for future generations of reviving and sustaining that spirit. It happened 24 years later in 1988 when after a 43-36-1 drought … out of nowhere it won the national title. Again, 24 years later in 2012, with a 32-31 led- ger the previous five years, it came out of nowhere to rise to No. 1 with a 12-0 regular season, before it too saw dreams shattered. "Don't ever stop wanting to be No. 1," wrote Notre Dame president Rev. Theo- dore M. Hesburgh to the team and stu- dent body after the 1964 loss at USC, "but especially don't ever stop trying." With each new generation at Notre Dame, the spirit of 1964 remains a stan- dard of providing that inspiration. ✦