Confession time; when I was growing up I was immensely more into college basketball than college football. That allure almost certainly came from March Madness and monitoring those games during the day when I went to school (if I did go to school that day). However, I was always a football fan deep down. Between the ease of the schedule, the consistent scheduling, and the history and traditions that were soaked into the foundation of the sport, it was only a matter of time until college football took a firmer hold on my life compared to college basketball.
I can point to two major events that helped cause the tides to slowly turn in the direction of college football. The first was a moment that always sticks out in my mind as the moment I truly became a Notre Dame fan, at least independent of my family raising me to be one. After a lackluster debut game at Notre Dame stadium, which I’ve hit on previously, I went back to other things as a kid does. The 2002 season changed everything. I don’t have a ton of memories of games prior (or even during that season) but one game stands out. The 2002 Michigan State game. More specifically, the finish of the 2002 Michigan State game.
The ending, the indescribable joy to see such a dramatic moment unfold, really stuck and has stuck with me. The crescendo of a couple hours of stress relieved in one moment of pure fanatic bliss. It was something I truly enjoyed and something I enjoyed seeking out.
A Christmas Spark
Fast forward to Christmas of 2006. I received a present of a book with the title “Heart Stoppers and Hail Mary’s” on the cover with a big picture of Matt Leinart diving into the end zone at the end of the 05 USC game. Thumbing through it before my family gets in a 45 minute ride home, I notice on the back of the cover there is one CD. The back cover has another. On those CDs were radio calls of some of the older games, and almost every call after 2000, showing the thrill of a last second victory. I ended up loading those calls to my iTunes for future consumption. Every time I was in the car, I would be listening to all of those calls sans context, losing myself in the moment.
Both Versions of the Book
During my move to California two summers ago, I was packing all of my sports books, and found this book. Looking through it once again, I noticed that the author was in fact a Notre Dame professor. During the moving process, I was thinking of potential off season ideas for the website, when the idea hit me. I could reach out to Professor Mandell and ask for his permission to extend the idea of this book closer to the modern game. However, I ended up tabling it, when I came up with the 2001: A Football Odyssey idea.
As I was doing research on that project last summer, I found writing about the games with the more fun finishes are easier and more fun to research. I finally reached out to Professor Mandell to get his blessing to potentially do this idea this offseason. He happily agreed to the idea. Check out his website here for more information on him and the two books referenced above.
So What’s Next?
So this offseason, in a similar vein of the original two books, I will be hand selecting some of the best finishes since the 2006 Rose Bowl between Texas and Southern Cal. That game is the final I am looking for games that fit the criteria from the book as best as possible:
There have been 16 complete seasons since the final game in that book. This offseason I will take a look at those first eight seasons (2006-13 football seasons) and talk about the games that meet that criteria. I narrowed down the list to twenty of the games I personally think reach the pinnacle of iconic college football finishes. Let me know in the comments below your guesses for games that will make this list (there will certainly be a handful of ND games in here). Next time, we take a look at the first game on that list.
oh this should be a fun look back. some near locks
oklahoma boise state fiesta bowl
michigan michigan state 2015
bama auburn kick 6
clemson bama 2016 title game
oklahoma georgia cfp semifinal
I’d add the The Bush Push
oh definitely but I thought he said he would be looking back at games since usc texas rose bowl that year.
Will probably add clemson ohio state 2019 CFP, great game, huge talent and huge stakes
nd games that would be candidates
michigan state 2010
clemson 2015
clemson 2020
Verbal nod to the 20201 9 OT Penn State/Illinois game, which was technically “heart stopping”, though not via excitement.
Florida State ’14
Mots:
Stanford & Pitt 2012?
I mean from nd fan perspective those games are absolutely up there but in terms of the entire college football landscape maybe florida state 2014 but nd falling off and florida state being a fraud lessen that’s games impact 8 years later
I think Stanford 2012 is definitely on there. We lose that and we probably don’t end up in the NC game. No #1 ranking during the season. This is the season that returned us to national prominence. However, it was an OT game, so maybe doesn’t fit the criteria.
I know that in the book, Mr. Mandell said that he didn’t generally include OT games in the book unless there was a crazy play involved. Clemson 2020 might get in on the basis of the Avery Davis catch to set up the final regulation TD, but I’m not sure it’s a lock.
MSU 2010, however, is a dead-bolt lock for a hypothetical 3rd edition of this book and probably for this series.
Yeah the Bush Push is the penultimate game in the second book, before the VY Rose Bowl!
Bama/Georgia 2017 title game probably gets in there. Auburn/Georgia “Prayer at Jordan-Hare” in 2013 has to be included. I’m sure I’ll think of more.
ETA: Miami/Duke controversial GW kickoff return TD from a few years back.
yeah I thought about all of those games. 2017 bama georgia has to be in there. the prayer at jordan hare is insane and the stakes are incredibly high in hindsight it but in the moment it was just 2 top 25 teams. and miami duke is insane and there was an insane georgia tech FSU game in like 2015 but non clemson acc games are such low stakes
As to your first paragraph, I’ve just become entirely uninterested in college basketball. I think the problem is the high turnover of players every year on a lot of teams (or at least many of the top teams). If I don’t know what’s going on (who is playing, who is good, etc.) then it’s hard to get interested. And to know what’s going on you have to be super committed to following everything. I think the NBA draft rule of forcing kids to go play in college has destroyed the game.
i am really looking forward to this
going to be great offseason content
Enjoyed the 2001 series and looking forward to this one as well, PJ!
You can all hate me for it, but I miss those gold under the sleeve away unis. They looked great.
I stumbled into the first edition of this book at a library once as a kid (remember libraries?) and was instantly hooked. I received the 2nd edition as a Christmas gift many years back, right around the time you did. A tremendous read. Still remember many of the calls on those CDs.
Mich Msu 2016(?) With the botched punt to end it… that’s was wild.
Also the MSU/wisconsin 2013(?) B10 champ game with the last second TD pass.
Michigan state is borderline PhD level in their game ending insanity.
No mention of Michigan losing to App State? Last second blocked fg for the happiest upset of all time?
Love all of this discussion. I will say some of the guesses are for sure going to be on this list! A reminder though, since there have been so many lists (and I’m merely one man) it’s just gonna be 2006-13 this offseason. I have a running list going for all games between 2006 to this past season, but those will come out in the next offseason!
I think maybe the most underappreciated game in modern times is the 2017 Penn State-USC Rose Bowl, which is a game that absolutely ruled. One of the most enjoyable watches as a neutral fan for me ever.
How do you all feel about the Stuckey hire? I don’t know much about him, coaching wise. Hope he can recruit well!
People are annoyed because somebody floated over the last couple weeks that OSU’s and Alabama’s coaches were realistic possibilities, which never really made sense. It appears – though it hasn’t been reported as such – that they picked him over Purdue’s coach, who a lot of folks were pretty excited about. So that explains the less-than-enthused reaction.
But who knows? He could be good!
If we aren’t landing someone from Bama or OSU, might as well take a young guy. I would imagine Freeman can at least judge how he will be on the trail.
I never understood the idea of getting Bama’s WR coach and assistant OC to make a lateral move. Why would he?
Stuckey seems to have a decent pedigree: played under Dabo, 5 years in the league, coached under Dabo.
However, the ND press release pointed out (as a positive, mind you) that Baylor was 8th in the XII in passing offense last year, and that he had “3 receivers with more than 350 yards”. Also listed a 3 star as one of his big recruiting hits. So, yeah, those aren’t impressive numbers
After the last couple weeks, the analogy to recruiting that came up in my head was as follows: We thought we were in on the #1 recruit in the country as well as another 5-star, and ended up taking a 3-star with upside over a 4-star. So of course people aren’t going to be happy.
But were we ever really in on the 5-stars? Probably not.
Maybe, but Pete’s article today said they talked to the guy at Alabama, Freeman also reached out and talked to Hartline. Can’t do too much more, but if you’re one of those guys why would you take a lateral move to a lesser program (certainly within the narrow focus of that position group)? Notre Dame shouldn’t be “in” on them, doesn’t make a ton of sense for their perspective.
We’ll see what the new guy can do, I don’t think it’s worthy of scorn by fans on day 1, nor does he get a ticker tape parade walking in the door either. Hopefully it’s an upgrade, seems like another young, charismatic coach with potential and upside, which is a undoubtedly not a coincidence for the Freeman staff.
I still stand by the fact that you take the swing.
Maybe they want more money than Bama or tOSU is willing to pay (AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA sorry can’t keep a straight face there).
Maybe they want to prove they can do it somewhere that isn’t as easy to scoop up 5 stars, to improve potential for a future move up the ladder.
Maybe they hate working for Nick Saban, or know that Day is going to take the Bears job, or….
Don’t know if you don’t ask. If anything, we should be happy to read that Freeman at least A. made contact with Hartline, which should be the first call anybody looking for a WR coach makes, and B. had enough dialogue with the Bama coach that it went at least until the title game before he got the “no.” THEN he had other candidates ready to go and hired one two days later.
I agree completely that it was never likely we’d get either of them to come, and anybody who got their hopes up and then is angry about it now simply isn’t thinking it through.
Right, I guess it depends on one’s definition of “in”. It appears both Hartline and Wiggins got more money to keep doing their jobs, so they probably just used us for leverage. Good for them! But the idea that (1) they would leave those jobs for even money and (2) ND would outbid Alabama or OSU are both silly, so IMO there was really no chance unless OSU or Alabama didn’t really want them.
Your approach re: Stuckey seems right to me. It’s not a full-on growing-into-the-position thing, which is good, and if they think he’s going to be good, I hope they’re right!
Somewhat relatedly: onne thing I hope they’ve learned from the Kelly 2.0 era is that when you have a position coach who is a dud recruiting, you need to cut bait quickly. Alexander got two more years than he should have and Lyght/Denson were there at least one year too long.
You’re also recruiting to Baylor after their mess and the horrible 2020 season they had, though. Not exactly a resume bullet point but it’s also not as bad as it might seem.
I read it as Freeman took big swings to see if anyone would shake out. Sampson’s article today about Stuckey on the Athletic said that he reached out to Hartline and that the Bama WR coach was a “candidate.” But I think the way to read that is that there were discussions beyond what happened with Hartline (which was likely “hey man, want t–” “let me stop you right there, thanks, but no.)
With Bama’s WR coach they probably talked and couldn’t reach agreement until after the NC game, and after the NC game the Bama WR decided not to move (maybe got something from Papa Saban, maybe just decided he’s happy not making a lateral move, who knows). Okay, swing taken and missed.
Now you’re down to the Purdue guy, whom Freeman has worked with I think, and Stuckey, and Stuckey came in and rocked the interview, so he got the job.
I don’t know anything about coaching WRs so I can’t really criticize the hire specfically. He has a good but short resume, with the makings of a good hire. But I don’t think anyone thought Del Alexander was a bust hire at the time. So who knows.
Just picked up a grad transfer kicker. Nothing like 5 special teams scholarships in use for one season!
(though numbers don’t appear like it’s going to be a problem, so why not I suppose)
Not ideal but better than the alternative of having a poor kicker or long snapper. Wasn’t the kicker they recruited a few years ago highly rated? Wonder what happened there. Always thought it was a red flag he never even did kickoffs when Doerer was hurt/hurting at times last year and really never could drive the ball into the end zone consistently anyways.
Like our punters, one ranking service had Bryan as the #1 kicker so that’s all everyone remembers. He averaged out to the #6 kicker: https://247sports.com/Player/Josh-Bryan-46103069/
Early indications I’ve seen are that this grad transfer is competition for Bryan and not 100% going to start over him, but it is not a great sign that they think he needs the competition. Also wild we’re going to be carrying a backup long snapper on scholarship for the second straight season. Not great evals from Brian Polian!
Hey, it’s like they always say, can never have too many long snappers. OL adjacent.
Now I certainly don’t watch 130+ teams games every week, but how many teams are carrying even one scholarship longsnapper and, even if it’s all of them, how much of a difference does it actually make? It’s not like if I turn on idk Colorado vs. Wazzu I expect to see guys winging long snaps past people with any greater regularity
I’m certainly no special teams expert, but I believe that NFL teams carry a long snapper on their rosters (and a quick google showed me the top LS makes $1.3 mil per year), so if teams with only 55 or however many spots carry one I imagine most colleges do as well. You don’t want your starting or backup center also filling that spot, they’d be a bad fit on coverage teams at the very least.
That said, it feels like the position could be filled with 1 scholarship and then if you need a “backup” you crosstrain the backup center or have a walk-on.
Rob Ninkovich was the Patriots backup LS for years. They also spent probably more $ and draft capital on LS than any other NFL team (and probably all ST positions).
But it isn’t like ND went out and recruited a bunch of LSs. They had 1 on scholarship (pretty normal), Vinson was a walk-on, earned himself a scholarship by beating out the younger guy and by having the nickname Milk, and now presumably will stay longer because of covid and not having to pay for school anymore.
ND is still actively recruiting a RB for 2022, simply because he’s a really good looking late bloomer. Clearly scholarship numbers aren’t being impacted the number of STers. When we turn someone away because we have too many LS, then something went wrong.