Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Under the Dome Five Questions With ��� Former Irish Quarterback Tony Rice Tony Rice is the last Notre Dame quarterback to lead his team to a national championship. Rice played under center from 1987-89. The South Carolina native ran the triple option in a offensive backfield dripping with talent when the Irish beat No. 1 Miami and No. 2 USC on their way to a national title. He joined Blue & Gold Illustrated recently to talk about the long wait for the last bowl game of the year and how this year���s team would fare against his own. Blue & Gold Illustrated: Do you speak much with Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson, a fellow South Carolina native? Rice: ���I spoke with him at the beginning of the season. I don���t like to interrupt anything, He has a lot of things to focus on classroom studies and on the football field; he doesn���t need me talking. ���He���s doing everything himself on the field.��� Blue & Gold Illustrated: Do you see some similarities between you and Golson? Rice: ���We have a lot in common, but he���s a lot better than I am. His determination, looking at the two-quarterback situations and being taken out of a game. He could have sat there and moped, but he just kept on plugging away in practice. ���You see in the game he wanted that position badly. He could���ve given up, but he never did and that���s one thing that South Carolina people don���t do. We don���t give up.��� Blue & Gold Illustrated: Is the long layoff between the end of the season and a bowl game a good thing or a bad thing? Rice: ���This will give you enough time to prepare for the game and give you enough time to polish up some things on the offensive side. ���Some of those players are going to get kind of Rice led Notre Dame to its most recent national championship, capping a perfect 1988 season with a 34-21 victory over West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl. photo courtesy notre dame media relations tired of hitting each other. Then they will go and hit someone else.��� Blue & Gold Illustrated: When did you first think this team had a chance to go undefeated? Rice: ���I would say at the beginning of the season, at the first game. I���m always going to say Notre Dame is going to win, just like Coach Holtz. But you can actually see how they���re coming together as a team when playing those other teams that are projected to win.��� Blue & Gold Illustrated: How would your team in 1988 stack up to this 2012 team? Rice: ���They���re bigger, but again, if you have that heart and determination ��� I loved to compete against anyone ��� whether it���s badminton, ping pong or rugby I���m going to do my best. ���I think our team could be the best because the way we came together and this team is like that as well. It would be a stalemate with the ���88 team I think.��� ��� Dan Murphy