Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/82255
Gimme Five Opening-game blowouts used to be commonplace at Notre Dame during the Knute Rockne era (1918-30), including 74-0 against Kalamazoo in 1923 and 77-0 versus Beloit in 1926. Successor Hunk Anderson posted a 73-0 whitewash of Haskell to open the 1932 season, while Elmer Layden began 1938 with an impressive 52-0 win over Kansas — after scoring only 77 points total during the 6-2-1 regular season the year prior. After Frank Leahy retired following the 1953 campaign — he won four openers by at least 40 points — there have been five season debuts in the last 59 years where Notre Dame won by at least 40 points, with Navy this year the most recent: Final Record Opponent (Year)Score(AP Rank) 1. California (1965)48-67-2-1 (No. 9) 2. Northwestern (1971)50-78-2 (No. 13) 3. Northwestern (1973)44-011-0 (No. 1) 4. Purdue (1983)52-67-5 (—) 5. Navy (2012)50-10? Getting To Know … OL Nick Martin Nickname: “Everyone just calls me Nick.” Major: “Business, but undecided about the specifics.” Dorm: “Alumni Hall.” Favorite Class: “Business Law with Professor James O’Brien. He had a lot of insights, he’s had accounting stuff, had experienced it and taught it in an interesting way.” Favorite Off-Campus Spot: “My brother’s house.” Dream Vacation: “Just going down to Kentucky to my granddad’s farm.” Best Movie You’ve See Lately: “The Dark Knight Rises.” TV Show You Hate To Miss: “Sons of Anarchy.” Song You’re Listening To Most Right Now: “Apple Pie Moonshine” by Jake Owen. Role Models: “My brothers, Josh and Zack Martin. I’ve always looked up to them and how they conduct themselves on the field, off the field and just in day-to-day life.” Favorite Pro Athlete: “Jeff Saturday. I grew up watching the Indianapolis Colts when he was the center for many years. He’s in Green Bay now … he always knew what he was doing.” Best Player You’ve Gone Up Against: “Stephon Tuitt.” Dream Job If Football Didn’t Exist: “Fireman. My granddad was one, and I have some uncles and cousins who are firemen. I feel like I would like it.” You Have One Last Meal, What Is It: “Just a cheeseburger. No particular place.” They Said It “I played on three national championship teams. Notre Dame should be up in there all the time, in the top 10 or 15 [in the country]. I think we’re getting the players. I think that Brian Kelly can bring ’em around. Us alumni, we can’t wait that long.” Former Notre Dame All-American quarterback Johnny Lujack in the South Bend Tribune “That’s probably the best Notre Dame team I’ve seen in my 15 years here. Their front four and Manti [Te’o], I’ve never seen a group like that.” — Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo “There’s no controversy here, just an acknowledgment that maybe the second option isn’t third rate. Notre Dame went with [Everett] Golson, and it must stay with him. [Brian] Kelly said it’s a ‘continuation, week to week, of growing as a quarterback’ for the sophomore. Golson certainly looked the part against Navy. “If ever a time comes when, physically or otherwise, Golson can’t play that part? Tommy Rees, the ideal Plan B, will jog into the huddle as relief indeed.” — Brian Hamilton, Chicago Tribune “The standards are higher. The stakes are higher. So it’s important that all programs make certain that their players represent their programs and universities in the highest degree. “I don’t know that that is an easy answer, in the sense that if the NCAA gave us more time with our guys, I don’t think I would be sleeping in their rooms. I think it still is incumbent upon recruiting the guys that have the character traits necessary, and if they don’t, to make sure that you provide them an opportunity to grow as individuals.” — Head coach Brian Kelly on the rise of suspensions across the NCAA “I don’t know when exactly the SEC took over America. I know this is hard to believe, but the epicenter of college football used to be in the Midwest. I’m so old I can remember when Notre Dame actually mattered, and the real tough players were supposed to come from Western Pennsylvania and Ohio.” — Frank Deford, Sports Illustrated columnist “For Notre Dame, it was a week filled with the anticipation of drinking in both [Everett] Golson and Guinness. Any real questions about Notre Dame’s deficiencies will be answered later by those Wolverines, Spartans, Sooners and Trojans. On the first day of September, 4,000 miles from home against an outmanned service academy, the Irish built nothing more than a future. … Drink it up, Domers. Building confidence on the Emerald Isle is one thing. A reputation awaits to be built in the United States.” — Dennis Dodd, CBS Sports Tweet Of The Week @ESPNDrLou: “I stand by my word, Mayday….. 11 wins for Notre Dame this season.” — ESPN analyst and former Irish coach Lou Holtz responds to TV partner Mark May with a typically bold prediction for Notre Dame’s season