Ricky Watters

Notre Dame quarterback Malik Zaire, left, runs with the ball against Texas defensive end Naashon Hughes during the first half of an NCAA college football game Sept. 5, 2015, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Five Great Opening Games for ND Football

July 4, 2016 by Jimmy Grant

Notre Dame football has played 127 seasons, but for the purposes of determining the five best openers I'm going to limit my selections to the modern era. Here's the criteria I used: First, the game has to be against a quality opponent. Second, that team has to be from a major conference. Third, I cannot pick all the openers against Michigan. Fourth, it has to be a win. Fifth, the game has to be played after 1964, which I consider the start of the modern era. #5 Northwestern ...

Film Session: Notre Dame vs. Miami, 1990

April 25, 2016 by Jimmy Grant

The Miami-Notre Dame series, while largely dominated by Notre Dame, was full of excitement in the late 1980s. Whether it was the unforgivable 58-7 humiliation that was Gerry Faust’s last game or the near riot prior to the 1988 thriller, the games were hard-hitting, emotion-fueled, big-play dramas. While games in both 1988 and 1989 largely decided the national championship, the 1990 game was actually ranked #3 by fans for the best games in Notre Dame Stadium in a 2005 poll. It also played a ...

Is This Our Year? Unbeatable

July 31, 2014 by Lisa

This week I had a chance to sit down with fellow Notre Dame author, Jerry Barca. His current book "Unbeatable," which details the 1988 National Title winning team, is being released on paperback on August 5th. Here are Jerry's thoughts on field turf, the '88 championship team and what makes Notre Dame such a special place. How did you first become a Notre Dame fan? Jerry Barca: I was born Irish-Italian and Catholic in New Jersey. I don’t think there was much choice about it. It was just ...

Where Are They Now? Pat Eilers

January 16, 2014 by Lisa

At Notre Dame, the improbable is done on a daily basis. There are student-athletes at Notre Dame and then there is Pat Eilers. Notre Dame did not offer a bio-medical engineering program at the time, so Pat instead graduated with degrees in both Biology (pre-med) (’89) and Mechanical Engineering (’90). On top of that he played both football (a member of the 1988 national championship team) and baseball. He went on to play in the NFL for the Minnesota Vikings, Washington Redskins, and Chicago ...