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 ...
Tyrone Willingham
10,000 Days: Fighting… For Another Championship
Notre Dame football has not won a national championship in 10,000 days. Let that little factoid wash over you. Steph Curry, Rihanna, Adele, Haley Joel Osment, Emma Stone, and Michael Cera were all born the year the Irish last hoisted the crystal football, or whatever they hoisted back then. It was probably a rough-hewn marble tablet or something. Something sepia toned, and in the newsreels everyone moved too fast, and all the men wore hats. https://youtu.be/zVAhI0eSeCQ Vietnam is ...
Where Are They Now? Courtney Watson
Being a student-athlete at Notre Dame is no easy feat. Just the rigors of class alone are enough to send students into fits of panic, not to mention finding time for practice, time in the weight room, training table, travel and games. However, Notre Dame seems to draw the caliber of individuals who shine under this special brand of pressure. Courtney Watson was just this sort of student-athlete. Not only did he excel both on and off the field, he also spent an entire year serving on the student ...
Where Are They Now? Chris Yura
Growing up in the midst of the sprawling Appalachian mountains of West Virginia, one would think the only school looming on the horizon for Chris Yura would be WVU. But when his beloved Mountaineers played the Fighting Irish in the 1988 National Title game, it was another school that caught Yura’s eye -- Notre Dame. Yura was a USA Today honorable mention prep All-American, ranked 73rd among the top 100 national players by the Chicago Sun Times, and a Kennedy Award winner as the West Virginia ...