For ND, two decades is too long
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — It has been 20 years since Notre Dame last won a national championship, two decades since college football’s most storied program sat atop college football’s gilded throne.
The Irish have won eight Associated Press national titles since 1936, an average of one every nine years, making this the longest drought in the school’s rich history. And after last year’s 3-9 season — arguably the worst in 120 years of Irish football — a long-awaited ninth title never has seemed so far away.
”It’s kind of scary,” former Notre Dame All-American Chris Zorich said. ”The [current freshmen] were born a year after we won the national championship, which is frustrating. That should be motivation to bring Notre Dame back.”
Those freshmen might not remember Notre Dame’s magical 1988 season, when the Irish defeated the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 teams in the country and 10 of 12 opponents by double figures, but their parents — at least if they were college football fans — certainly do.
It started auspiciously enough with Reggie Ho’s dramatic game-winning field goal against Michigan. What everybody remembers most, of course, was the landmark 31-30 ”Catholics vs. Convicts” triumph over No. 1 Miami, a game that began with a pregame brawl and ended with Pat Terrell knocking down a Steve Walsh pass to snap the Hurricanes’ 36-game regular-season winning streak.
suntimes.com
9/4/08
