Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME Bush pushed quarterback Matt Leinart into the end zone for USC's winning touchdown in a 34-31 victory over Notre Dame in 2005 has the ESPN College GameDay crew set up shop in South Bend. Seven years later, a number of people working hard behind the scenes of the Fighting Irish football program got the wildly popular show to again visit campus last weekend for the Stanford game. Associate athletics director Not since running back Reggie 'GAMEDAY' LOGISTICS Notre Dame to host the show. "Lee Fitting sent me an e-mail during the game saying, 'Hey, not sure if you saw the Manti [Te'o] option, can we come this week?' "I run onto the bus where Brian Kelly is and said, 'Hey, you still good with GameDay coming this week?' He just gives a little fist pump and goes, 'Yeah, let's do it.' They announced it on the air 15 minutes later, then this crazy week began." ESPN had to alter its set, John Heisler received an e-mail from ESPN about a month before, alerting Notre Dame that it was on GameDay's radar. Football sports information director Brian Hardin had been pitching the idea to GameDay producer Lee Fitting for more than a year, but most of the time the decision simply comes down to how schedules line up for highly ranked teams. With an Irish win over Miami and Stanford's overtime victory Oct. 6, the wheels were in motion for piece that ran, but we appreciate it; it turned out great,'" Hardin recalled. "I said, 'Hopefully [the GameDay crew] will get a chance to meet him this week.' He e- mailed me back about two hours later and said, 'Hey, if it's still an Notre DameFootball Tickets BEST SELECTION & PRICES www.NotreDameTickets.com 24 years in business BUY ✦ SELL ✦ TRADE Call 1-800-925-2500 to be on is only 77 feet wide," he said. "They have two big screens. The stage itself is only 35x35; the stage is the easiest part, because we'll put that right in the grass area. But they have the demo field, two big screens, a couple trucks and their bus … there is a lot that goes into it. Hardin told ESPN: "If you want "The piece of land they're going and Notre Dame Stadium — a compromise Hardin said was worth it. which is usually 200 feet wide, to fit on the mall be- tween the Hesburgh Library this gorgeous shot, which we think will be the best location that they'll have all year of any school they go to, which is on the mall between Touchdown Jesus and the stadium — they're parked on the ground Rockne's teams used to practice on — that's pretty historic. "If you want that there, you might have to alter your expecta- tions of getting your set in here. They've been incredible to work with." — Wes Morgan