Any visit from Notre Dame is special, especially when outlined against a blue, gray October sky.
It stirs fans. And even in the disappointment of Washington’s 0-6 start, Husky Stadium is expected to be sold out for the first time this season at 5 p.m. Saturday when the Irish and Huskies kick off.
The mystique also means something to these UW players, although none are old enough to recall Notre Dame’s last national championship in 1988.
“It’s fun playing a team like that with all the attention they get nationally,” senior tight end Michael Gottlieb said. “That gets you a little bit more excited.”
It is less certain if these Huskies understand the details of why Notre Dame is special.
Interviews with a half-dozen or so players this week drew no mentions of Knute Rocke or George Gipp or the Four Horsemen.
What they cited was television.
“Notre Dame, as a little kid you watch them on TV playing USC,” UW freshman Terrance Dailey said. “It’s a big-time team, so I’m really looking forward to getting to play them.”
Notre Dame has appeared on national television 312 times, more than any other school. This season, all 12 games will be broadcast nationally by either ABC, CBS, NBC or one of the ESPN networks. The Washington game will be shown on ESPN2.
However, Notre Dame’s unique place in college football isn’t purely a media creation, said UW offensive line coach Mike Denbrock, who coached at Notre Dame under current UW coach Tyrone Willingham.
“In today’s world, every college football team is on every week,” Denbrock said. “That’s kind of changed the landscape of it a little bit more. When you were on TV and had your own deal, you were the only game in town and everybody watched. Now there’s so much variety and so many games on every week. I would think the majority of our guys know a little bit of something about the history of ND football. At least, I hope they do.”
That history includes 11 recognized national championships, 21 seasons when the Irish were awarded the national championship by at least one selector, seven Heisman Trophy winners, 12 unbeaten and untied seasons, 42 College Football Hall of Fame players, five Hall of Fame coaches, 10 players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, 181 first-team All-Americans, 61 NFL first-round draft picks and 28 bowl appearances. Notre Dame has 928 all-time victories and an all-time winning percentage of .738, both second-highest (behind Michigan) in college football history.
Beyond the numbers, there are the names and the traditions:
• Rockne, the Hall of Fame coach who made the iconic “Win one for the Gipper” speech, and who died in a plane crash on March 31, 1931.
• Gipp, the great player immortalized by Rockne who died of a throat infection Dec. 12, 1920, at the age of 25.
• Harry Stuhldreher, Jim Crowley, Don Miller and Elmer Layden, the 1924 Notre Dame backfield united forever by Grantland Rice in one of the most famous sentences in the history of sports reporting: “Outlined against a blue, gray October sky the Four Horsemen rode again.”
• The famed “Victory March,” celebrating its 100th anniversary this season.
• Those gold-colored helmets, which have come to mean to college football what Yankee pinstripes mean to baseball.
“I think history and tradition,” Willingham said this week of the Notre Dame mystique. “They’ve been around a long time, they’ve been very successful.”
The No. 1 subplot of this game involves Willingham’s three seasons at Notre Dame, his firing in 2004, and his replacement by current Irish coach Charlie Weis.
Neither coach has tried to make much of that this week. Notre Dame (4-2) is more concerned about bouncing back from a rare losing season in 2007. Washington (0-6) is just trying to get one initial positive outcome to build on.
“I believe one win can spark a season,” sophomore safety Victor Ayiewa said. “Playing Notre Dame is going to be another way for us to try to spark our season and turn our season around. I don’t think (Willingham’s connection to Notre Dame) has an effect on how we’re going to play. Right now we’re hungry for a victory.”
Don Ruiz: 253-597-8808
blogs.thenewstribune.com/uwsports
IRISH LORE
11 recognized national championships
21 seasons when the Irish were awarded the national championship by at least one selector
7 Heisman Trophy winners
12 unbeaten and untied seasons
42 College Football Hall of Fame players
5 Hall of Fame coaches
10 players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
181 first-team All-Americans
61 NFL first-round draft picks
28 bowl appearances
928 all-time victories
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