Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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THE FIFTH QUARTER LOU SOMOGYI years is the regular-season finale at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a.k.a., Notre Dame's version of "The Wailing Wall," where national title as- pirations often go to die. Pick your 10 most agonizing defeats in Notre Dame history and, other than a Boston College last-second field goal in 1993, chances are most of the top ones occurred at The Wailing Wall. None in school annals was more crushing than the 20-17 defeat, after holding a 17-0 halftime lead, to end the 1964 season. And therein is a resignation of tell- ing myself, "Hey this was a wonder- ful ride while it lasted. It will end per usual in the Coliseum, but at least we can see the program is crossing the threshold of a new cycle of excellence we remember from days past." It still can be this generation's ver- sion of 1964. That's how I was thinking prior to the 1988 regular-season finale, too. I had seen national title dreams end that entered Los Angeles unbeaten and No. 2 with a dominant, record-setting defense led by an All-American line- backer in Bob Crable, that generation's Manti Te'o. It also featured a so-so of- fense that had to use two quarterbacks, one a rookie who wore No. 5 (Blair Kiel) and a more seasoned veteran in Mike Courey, sort of like Everett Gol- son (also No. 5) and Tommy Rees this season. The Irish lost that game 20-3 and also the Sugar Bowl to finish 9-2-1. The Cinderella-like season with low out- side expectations ended with a broken glass slipper. Just like at Oklahoma earlier this in the Coliseum in the final regular- season game in 1970, 1974 and 1980. Consequently, it seemed inevitable that another national title run in 1988 would end in a vale of tears on the Coliseum's sod — until that Fighting Irish crew broke the cycle of misery with a 27-10 victory. The Wailing Wall became just The Coliseum again. Now, with so much potentially on the line in 2012, the old ghosts are re- surfacing in Notre Dame's first na- tional-title-like visit to Los Angeles in 24 years (and 11th overall). Who knows, maybe this 2012 Notre Dame team is more like the 1980 unit year, my head can't see Notre Dame winning this game. Way too much fire- power on USC's offense, and sooner or later the string of good fortune at quarterback will end in a double-digit defeat. Yet … many of these Notre Dame players already know what it's like to win at the Coliseum after posting the 20-16 victory in 2010. Just like with Oklahoma, in the crevices of my soul and heart, there is still that flickering spirit that says someway, somehow Notre Dame will battle and maybe find a way. Just like someday, someway, some- how, we always believed that another 1964-like journey could return to Notre Dame. ✦ Senior Editor Lou Somogyi has been at Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 1985. He can be reached at lsomogyi@blueandgold.com