Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com NOV. 28, 2016 15 UNDER THE DOME 90 Years Ago: Nov. 27, 1926 In what Blue & Gold Illustrated has ranked as the greatest upset win ever against Notre Dame football, head coach Knute Rockne's unbeaten Fighting Irish, the front-runner to capture their second consensus national title in three years, lose 19-0 in front of a capacity audience of 45,000 at Carnegie Tech. The Pittsburgh-based engineering school (renamed Carnegie Mellon in 1967) had fewer than 30 players, was coached part-time by a Chicago-based judge, Walter Steffen, and had been outscored by Notre Dame 111-19 in the previous four seasons, 26-0 the year prior. The 8-0 Irish also had outscored its opponents 197-7 this season, with seven shutouts. Per Murray A. Sperber's Shake Down The Thunder: The Creation of Notre Dame Football, Rockne's agent Christy Walsh (also the agent for Babe Ruth) had him, Stanford's Pop Warner and Yale's Tad Jones watch and write about the Army-Navy game at Chicago in a publicity event. Wrote Rockne in his acceptance: "The game in Pittsburgh will not be important enough … I can (put) it in charge of someone else." With Steffen and Carnegie Tech fired up about the slight, assistant coach Hunk Anderson's Irish fall behind 13-0 by halftime and flounder thereafter. With Rockne back at the helm the next week, the Irish win 13-12 at 8-1 USC — the first meeting ever with the Trojans — but the 1926 national title is split among Stanford, Alabama and Lafayette. 50 Years Ago: Nov. 26, 1966 Unbeaten and No. 1 Notre Dame crushes No. 10 and Pac-8 champion USC 51-0 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to clinch the national title unanimously in a vote by the Associated Press and United Press International two days later. Replacing the injured Terry Hanratty, sophomore quarterback Coley O'Brien completes 21 of 31 passes for 255 yards with three touchdowns. The Irish build a 17-0 lead late in the second quarter when their defensive coordinator John Ray hollers, "My God, you guys, we just have to get another score before half!" Two years earlier, 9-0 and No. 1 Notre Dame led USC 17-0 at halftime before losing 20-17. In the closing minutes, O'Brien finds sophomore wideout Jim Seymour (11 catches for 150 yards) on 13- and 39-yard touchdown passes to make it 31-0 at the intermission. It is the first time in 13 years Notre Dame finishes unbeaten and the first time in 17 seasons the Irish are named consensus national champs. It also remains the largest margin of defeat ever of a USC team, and the last time college football awards the national title to a team that does not attend a bowl game. 20 Years Ago: Nov. 24, 1996 Five days after Lou Holtz's an- nouncement that he will be step- ping down as Notre Dame's head coach at the end of his 11th season, 42-year-old Irish defensive coordi- nator Bob Davie is introduced as his successor. The three-man search committee was comprised of execu- tive vice president Rev. E. William Beauchamp C.S.C., athletics director Mike Wadsworth and assistant ath- letics director George Kelly. "Three years ago when I came to Notre Dame, I came here because Lou Holtz told me that he would teach me how to become a head football coach, and he did that," Davie said. "I feel like in some ways I'm totally prepared to be the head football coach because I doubt there's many head coaches in this country that have experienced the type of things I've experienced, par- ticularly over my last three years here at Notre Dame." — Lou Somogyi Anniversaries In Notre Dame Football History: Nov. 23‑29 NOTRE DAME Great Gift Ideas! *Please add sales tax if shipping to: IN (7%), MI (6%), and NC (7.5%) Call for best shipping rates on multiple items! Wall Calendars Ship Within Cont. U.S. Only BLUE AND GOLD ILLUSTRATED PO BOX 2331 • DURHAM, NC 27702 800-421-7751 www.BlueGoldOnline.com 2017 Vintage Football Calendar Item #6451 • 11"x14" Vintage FB Calendar $ 18 95 + $5 S&H This unique series of frame-ready prints fea- ture archival-quality reproductions of home and away game souvenir programs that were sold at the stadiums during the early 1900s to the 1960s. Each year has different images. Collect the 2017 edition before they sell out! ON SALE! (Reg. $21.95) The Greatest Team DVD Item #6213 The Greatest Team DVD $ 26 99 FREE S&H SPECIAL OFFER! Get this DVD for only $13.95 w/ paid subscription renewal! The most incredible story in college foot- ball history — this film features excit- ing game footage and rare interview clips from the ND 1 9 4 6 a n d 1 9 4 7 national champion- ship teams. Expert commentary by Ara Parseghian, Lou Somogyi and other legend- ary writers, coaches and players. In 1996, Bob Davie became the first Notre Dame assistant promoted to the head coaching spot since Terry Brennan in 1954. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS