GAME PREVIEW: UMASS
titles in 1999‑2000, Whipple won the
I‑AA championship at UMass. He then
coached nearly a decade in the NFL
before returning to the Minutemen in
2013.
Massachusetts' passing attack can
be viewed as a prelude, if not tune‑up,
to October.
DEBUT APPEARANCE
Massachusetts is the 72nd different
opponent that will have visited Notre
Dame Stadium since its opening in
1930.
What's become distressing is the
recent trend of first‑time visitors to
the edifice coming away with the vic‑
tory, including three times in the Brian
Kelly era that began in 2010.
In the 79 years from 1930‑2008, nine
different teams won in their first ap‑
pearance at Notre Dame Stadium: USC
(1931), Purdue (1933), Texas (1934),
Iowa (1940), Michigan (1942), Missouri
(1972) — and then three in four years
with Clemson (1979), Florida State
(1981) and Penn State (1982).
It didn't occur again until 2009 —
and then there was a streak of four in
six years.
It began in 2009 with a 33‑30 double‑
overtime victory by Connecticut in
what would be Irish head coach Char‑
lie Weis' final home game. The next
season, Tulsa pulled off a stunning
28‑27 triumph to drop Notre Dame to
4‑5 in Kelly's first season.
In 2011, alumnus Skip Holtz's South
Florida Bulls, who would finish only
5‑7, pulled off a 23‑20 upset in the
opener. Then last season, Louisville's
first visit to Notre Dame Stadium re‑
sulted in a 31‑28 defeat of the Irish on
Senior Day.
There is no way possible to fathom
UMass winning at Notre Dame this
season. Then again, about 25 or 30
Head coach Mark Whipple led UMass to a Division
I-AA national title in 1998, and then coached for
nearly a decade in the NFL before returning to the
Minutemen in 2013.
PHOTO BY THOM KENDALL/UMASS ATHLETICS
