Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/81334
Top Of The Class Jeni Houser • So., Volleyball The 6-2 sophomore is the only Notre Dame player to make the preseason All-Big East volleyball team this fall. Houser made the all-conference list at the end of her freshman year as well, after leading the Irish with 320 kills and 3.47 points per set. She started this year with a team-high 17 kills in Notre Dame’s season-opening loss to No. 1 UCLA. The Irish are picked to finish third in the Big East this year. Jake Kildoo • So., Cross Country Kildoo represented Notre Dame at the junior men’s cross country championship for North America, Central America and the Caribbean this spring. Kildoo finished in fifth place at the USA Championships while covering eight kilometers in 25:05. That earned him a trip to Trinidad to race with some of the top young distance runners in the western hemisphere. Michaela Mabrey • Fr., Women’s Basketball The freshman guard added another international gold medal (the seventh since 2008) to Notre Dame’s roster last month at the U-18 FIBA Americas Championship. She started in four of Team USA’s five games at the Puerto Rico-based tournament. Mabrey averaged 12.8 points and 4.8 assists during the tournament, including scoring 14 against Brazil in the final game. McKenzie Brown • Sr. Women’s Lacrosse Brown was one of three members of the Irish lacrosse team to make the Academic Squad on Aug. 25. The Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association selected 173 upperclassmen to its list for the past year. Brown, along with graduated senior Kelly Driscoll and classmate Adele Bruggeman, was one of 27 on the list that played in the NCAA Tournament. Anniversaries In Notre Dame Athletics History: Sept. 5-11 35 Years Ago: Sept. 10, 1977 In a showdown between defending national champion Pitt and the projected 1977 national title winner Notre Dame, the No. 3-ranked Irish rally in the fourth quarter for a hard-fought, 19-9 victory in the Steel City versus the No. 7 Panthers. Ironically, the game-changing play for Notre Dame occurs when Pitt quarterback Matt Cavanaugh fires a 12-yard touchdown pass with 1:28 left in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead. On that scoring pass, Irish defensive end Willie Fry hits Cavanaugh right as he releases the pass and breaks his left wrist when Fry’s weight lands atop him on the turf. Minus Cavanaugh in the lineup, the Pitt offense is rendered anemic while netting 21 yards total offense, repeatedly fumbling the snap exchange with two other green quarterbacks replacing him, and committing seven turnovers over the final three quarters. With the Panthers still clinging to a 9-6 lead in the fourth quarter, the Irish move ahead on kicker Dave Reeve’s field goals from 35 and 26 yards — after Pitt loses fumbled snaps at its own 16-yard line both times. Yet another Pitt fumble at its 11 sets up a four-yard touchdown run by senior halfback Terry Eurick for the final points against the valiant but exhausted Panther defense. 20 Years Ago: Sept. 5, 1992 Playing Northwestern for the first time in 16 years, the No. 3-ranked Irish overcome a shaky first half to post a 42-7 victory in Chicago’s Soldier Field against first-year head coach Gary Barnett’s Wildcats. The score is knotted at 7-7 before an 86-yard Notre Dame drive right before halftime, capped by a two-yard Lee Becton run, gives it a 14-7 halftime cushion. Midway through the third quarter, the floodgates finally open when senior quarterback Rick Mirer finds sophomore speedster Mike Miller on a 70-yard score. Minutes later, junior fullback Jerome Bettis romps for a 24-yard score, followed by a 72-yard run by senior Reggie Brooks, who finishes with 157 yards on just nine carries. Tight end Oscar McBride begins and ends the scoring with a pair of five-yard scoring receptions, the first from Mirer and the second by backup Kevin McDougal. 15 Years Ago: Sept. 6, 1997 Bob Davie makes his head coaching debut with a 17-13 victory against George O’Leary’s Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The conquest almost gets overshadowed amidst the pomp and pageantry dedicating the expanded and upgraded Notre Dame Stadium. The capacity crowd grows from 59,075 to 80,225, but Georgia Tech rains on the festive atmosphere with a field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter to take a 13-10 lead. The Yellow Jackets then take possession at the Irish 29 and Irish 32 after intercepting two Ron Powlus passes, but the Notre Dame defense hunkers down while forcing two missed field goals. O’Leary’s crew has four three-and-out possessions in the fourth quarter that net eight yards. Senior defensive end Melvin Dansby headlines the Irish effort with 12 tackles, including two sacks. Notre Dame scores the game-winning touchdown with 2:37 remaining on a one-yard run by Autry Denson to conclude a 70-yard drive. Guard Tim Ridder helps save the day when he recovers a Denson fumble at the Tech 44 during the march. “It’s obvious we have a strong foundation on this team and in this program,” Davie summarized. — Lou Somogyi