Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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52 NOV. 21, 2016 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY LOU SOMOGYI T his year marks the 20th anni- versary of the NCAA imple- menting overtime into college football. That rule change has not been kind to Notre Dame the past two decades. Since 1996, Notre Dame is only 5-10 in overtime contests — including 1-4 in more than one overtime — and the 2016 campaign began on an inauspi- cious note when the Fighting Irish lost 50-47 in double overtime at Texas. The 2016 season, and the month of November specifically, also marks the anniversary of the two most fa- mous ties in college football history, both of which resulted in national titles for Notre Dame. The first occurred 70 years ago on Nov. 9, 1946, when the No. 2 Irish and No. 1 Army, the two-time de- fending champ, engaged in a score- less tie in Yankee Stadium. To the surprise of many, at the end of the year the challenger Notre Dame unseated the champion Army for the title despite the draw. Army finished 9-0-1 against a tougher schedule, while the Irish were 8-0-1. What happened was that in the game of "style points" Army ended its season with a 21-18 win over 1-8 Navy, when the clock ran out on the Midshipmen, who were within the shadow of Army's goal line. Meanwhile, Notre Dame won impressively over No. 16 USC, 26-6. Because Notre Dame had trounced Navy by a 28-0 count earlier in the year, the "tiebreaker" for the Associ- ated Press voters was the margin of victory versus a common opponent. Notre Dame's 104 first-place votes from the AP doubled Army's 52. Georgia, which finished 10-0, placed third with 23 first-place votes, while 10-0 UCLA was fourth with only two first-place ballots. That Notre Dame-Army show- down was billed as college football's original "Game of the Century" — and that moniker would be repeated 20 years later, when No. 1 Notre Dame traveled to No. 2 Michigan State on Nov. 19, 1966. FIT TO BE TIED Again, the game ended in a tie, this time 10-10. Again, Notre Dame was the beneficiary of the deadlock. And this time, there was much more indignation from the two-time de- fending national champ about the final results in the polls. In this case it was Alabama, not Army, with the complaint. Entering the Nov. 19 showdown in East Lan- sing, Notre Dame, MSU and Alabama were all unbeaten. Despite losing their star halfback (Nick Eddy), quar- terback (Terry Hanratty) and center George Goeddeke, the Irish rallied from a 10-0 deficit to knot the game at 10, and just missed taking the lead in the fourth quarter when a 41-yard field goal attempt barely went wide. A forgotten moment in this game is that with about 1:30 left, Michigan State had fourth-and-four from its 36. It had to realize that with a punt it probably would not get the ball back. If it was truly "playing to win," it could have gone for broke there. The Spartans were smart enough to play the percentages. When Notre Dame took possession at its 30 after the punt, it too went into a "play not to lose" mode. With a No. 2 QB in Coley O'Brien whose diabetes weakened him by game's end (he had missed his last six passes), five first-year players on offense because of injuries, the wind against him and the Spartans waiting for the pass, Irish head coach Ara Parseghian played it cautiously — although he had O'Brien sneak for it on fourth-and-one from his 39 before he was sacked for a seven-yard loss on the next play. He played it safe for at least two reasons. One, after falling behind 10-0 mid- way into the second quarter and hav- ing lost Hanratty on the game's second series, Notre Dame took command, not allowing the Spartans to get beyond the Irish 47 the rest of the game. Notre Dame tied the game on the first play of the fourth quarter on a Joe Azzaro field goal, and later an interception by safety Tom Schoen put them at MSU's 18, ending in a missed field goal after a breakdown on a running play. Schoen had two interceptions, but he also fumbled Michigan State's final punt at his 30, which he was able to pounce on in a pile-up. History could have changed had the Spartans recov- ered the loose ball, but that play might have reinforced to Parseghian how so much could be lost on one miscue. "We were trying to get to midfield and then throw," Parseghian said of the final series. "But I wasn't going to do a jackass thing like letting them get an interception on us and cost us the game after 60 minutes of football like our boys played." 50 YEARS LATER Indeed, the AP poll kept Notre Dame No. 1, although the UPI did The Ties That Bind No school has benefitted from tie games more than Notre Dame PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS