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1) In 1991, Notre Dame had arguably it's best representation ever in the NFL draft. Name at least three players drafted (and the team that drafted them) and also name the Irish standout that spurned the NFL for more money to play in the Canadian Football League.
The 1991 NFL Draft was a banner draft for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish having 10 players selected. Those players selected included:
1991 1 5 Todd Lyght CB L.A. Rams
1991 2 45 Ricky Watters RB San Francisco
1991 2 49 Chris Zorich DT Chicago
1991 3 72 Bob Dahl G Cincinnati
1991 4 100 Raghib Ismail WR L.A. Raiders
1991 5 136 Tim Ryan C Tampa Bay
1991 7 185 Andre Jones LB Pittsburgh
1991 8 216 Scott Kowalkowski OLB Philadelphia
1991 9 245 Mike Stonebreaker MLB Chicago
1991 10 257 Mike Heldt C San Diego
The Irish player that spurned his team was Raghib “The Rocket” Ismail when he decided against playing for the then Los Angeles Raiders in favor of the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts where he signed a $3.5 million per year personal services contract. He left the Argos after two seasons for the Raiders and the NFL.
2) Notre Dame's first ever Bowl game (and victory) came in the 1925 Rose Bowl with a 27-10 victory over Stanford. During this game, this Irish legend scored a touchdown both offensively and defensively. Who was he?
Elmer Layden. In the 1925 Rose Bowl, Layden ended up scoring three touchdowns, including two on interception returns of 78 and 70 yards respectively. His lone offensive score was a 3 yard touchdown. Layden was key on special teams, too, as he had one of his punts fumbled and recovered by the Irish.
3) What is the Notre Dame Stadium record for most points scored by the Irish? Additionally, who did they beat and what was the final score?
The Notre Dame Stadium record for most points scored is 73 when the Irish defeated Haskell Institute 73-0 on October 8, 1932. Notre Dame did defeat American Medical 142-0 on October 28, 1905, but that was done prior to Notre Dame Stadium.
4) Joe Montana is most notably know in Notre Dame lore for leading the amazing comeback in the 1979 Cotton Bowl where he engineered a four play, 29 yard drive in the final 28 seconds to defeat Houston 35-34. On that touchdown pass from Montana, what Irish receiver caught the game winning score?
Montana tossed that famed touchdown pass to Kris Haynes.
5) From 1946 to 1950, Notre Dame had an amazing 39 game unbeaten streak that included 37 victories and 2 ties. Who snapped that winning streak and what was the final score of that game?
The Purdue Boilermakers snapped the streak by defeating the Fighting Irish 28-14 on October 7, 1950.
6) On October 19th, 1924, these famous words were penned in the New York Herald-Tribune: "Outlined against a blue, gray October sky the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. There are only aliases. Their real names are Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden." Who said this?
This amazing quote was penned by Grantland Rice.
7) Notre Dame has many fierce rivals. However, four of it's rivalry games feature an exchange of a trophy or other trinket to the victory. Please name those four opponents and the name of the trophy that is given to the winner of that respective game.
Boston College – The Ireland Trophy
Michigan State – The Megaphone Trophy
Purdue – The Shillelagh Trophy
Southern California – The Jeweled Shillelagh
Stanford – Legends Trophy (Also accepted)
8) In Notre Dame's illustrious history, the Irish have been fortunate to have seven Heisman Trophy winners. Please name those seven individuals, what year they won the trophy and what position they played while at Notre Dame.
1943 – Angelo Bertelli – Quarterback
1947 – Johnny Lujack – Quarterback
1949 – Leon Hart – Tight End
1953 – John Lattner – Halfback
1956 – Paul Hornung – Quarterback
1964 – John Huarte – Quarterback
1987 – Tim Brown – Wide Receiver
9) There is much argument and debate about how many National Championships Notre Dame has actually won. Please give the number of total titles won and how many were awarded by the Associated Press.
Among many of the experts, Notre Dame is credited with 11 consensus national championships. Conversely, they’ve been awarded 8 national championships by the Associated Press since they began polling in 1936.
10) The mystique and allure of the Notre Dame green football jersey has long been a psychological ploy used by many coaches in order to inspire the Irish and intimidate the opponent. Which coach developed this tradition and explain how the "mystique of the green jersey" came about.
While many will attempt to point to the 1977 season for the introduction of the green jersey, it actually was Knute Rockne that started the tradition in the 1920s against perennial football power and Irish pest Navy:
Back in the 1920s during the Knute Rockne days, the Notre Dame varsity generally wore blue while the freshman squad wore green. But, on several occasions the varsity team did wear green — simply for purposes of distinction when the Irish opponent also came out in blue. Games against Navy, for example, in the late 1920s featured green-clad Notre Dame teams, to avoid confusion with the Navy’s blue uniforms.
Rockne didn’t mind using the color change as a psychological ploy. When Notre Dame faced Navy in Baltimore in 1927, the Irish head coach started his second-string reserves. Navy retaliated by scoring a touchdown in the first five minutes of the game. But, just as the Midshipmen scored, reported George Trevor in the New York Sun, Rockne made his move:
‘‘Instantaneously the Notre Dame regulars yanked off their blue outer sweaters and like a horde of green Gila monsters darted onto the field. From that moment on Notre Dame held the initiative, imposed its collective will upon the Navy.’’
The Irish came from behind to win that one 19-6 — then did the same thing the following year in Chicago’s Soldier Field, this time beating Navy 7-0. The 1928 edition of the Scholastic Football Review included this description:
‘‘Mr. K. K. Rockne may, or may not, be a psychologist. But, he did array his Fighting Irish in bright green jerseys for their battle with the United States Naval Academy. Mr. Rockne evidently surmised that garbing a band of native and adopted Irish in their native color is somewhat akin to showing a bull the Russian flag.’’
The 1991 NFL Draft was a banner draft for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish having 10 players selected. Those players selected included:
1991 1 5 Todd Lyght CB L.A. Rams
1991 2 45 Ricky Watters RB San Francisco
1991 2 49 Chris Zorich DT Chicago
1991 3 72 Bob Dahl G Cincinnati
1991 4 100 Raghib Ismail WR L.A. Raiders
1991 5 136 Tim Ryan C Tampa Bay
1991 7 185 Andre Jones LB Pittsburgh
1991 8 216 Scott Kowalkowski OLB Philadelphia
1991 9 245 Mike Stonebreaker MLB Chicago
1991 10 257 Mike Heldt C San Diego
The Irish player that spurned his team was Raghib “The Rocket” Ismail when he decided against playing for the then Los Angeles Raiders in favor of the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts where he signed a $3.5 million per year personal services contract. He left the Argos after two seasons for the Raiders and the NFL.
2) Notre Dame's first ever Bowl game (and victory) came in the 1925 Rose Bowl with a 27-10 victory over Stanford. During this game, this Irish legend scored a touchdown both offensively and defensively. Who was he?
Elmer Layden. In the 1925 Rose Bowl, Layden ended up scoring three touchdowns, including two on interception returns of 78 and 70 yards respectively. His lone offensive score was a 3 yard touchdown. Layden was key on special teams, too, as he had one of his punts fumbled and recovered by the Irish.
3) What is the Notre Dame Stadium record for most points scored by the Irish? Additionally, who did they beat and what was the final score?
The Notre Dame Stadium record for most points scored is 73 when the Irish defeated Haskell Institute 73-0 on October 8, 1932. Notre Dame did defeat American Medical 142-0 on October 28, 1905, but that was done prior to Notre Dame Stadium.
4) Joe Montana is most notably know in Notre Dame lore for leading the amazing comeback in the 1979 Cotton Bowl where he engineered a four play, 29 yard drive in the final 28 seconds to defeat Houston 35-34. On that touchdown pass from Montana, what Irish receiver caught the game winning score?
Montana tossed that famed touchdown pass to Kris Haynes.
5) From 1946 to 1950, Notre Dame had an amazing 39 game unbeaten streak that included 37 victories and 2 ties. Who snapped that winning streak and what was the final score of that game?
The Purdue Boilermakers snapped the streak by defeating the Fighting Irish 28-14 on October 7, 1950.
6) On October 19th, 1924, these famous words were penned in the New York Herald-Tribune: "Outlined against a blue, gray October sky the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. There are only aliases. Their real names are Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden." Who said this?
This amazing quote was penned by Grantland Rice.
7) Notre Dame has many fierce rivals. However, four of it's rivalry games feature an exchange of a trophy or other trinket to the victory. Please name those four opponents and the name of the trophy that is given to the winner of that respective game.
Boston College – The Ireland Trophy
Michigan State – The Megaphone Trophy
Purdue – The Shillelagh Trophy
Southern California – The Jeweled Shillelagh
Stanford – Legends Trophy (Also accepted)
8) In Notre Dame's illustrious history, the Irish have been fortunate to have seven Heisman Trophy winners. Please name those seven individuals, what year they won the trophy and what position they played while at Notre Dame.
1943 – Angelo Bertelli – Quarterback
1947 – Johnny Lujack – Quarterback
1949 – Leon Hart – Tight End
1953 – John Lattner – Halfback
1956 – Paul Hornung – Quarterback
1964 – John Huarte – Quarterback
1987 – Tim Brown – Wide Receiver
9) There is much argument and debate about how many National Championships Notre Dame has actually won. Please give the number of total titles won and how many were awarded by the Associated Press.
Among many of the experts, Notre Dame is credited with 11 consensus national championships. Conversely, they’ve been awarded 8 national championships by the Associated Press since they began polling in 1936.
10) The mystique and allure of the Notre Dame green football jersey has long been a psychological ploy used by many coaches in order to inspire the Irish and intimidate the opponent. Which coach developed this tradition and explain how the "mystique of the green jersey" came about.
While many will attempt to point to the 1977 season for the introduction of the green jersey, it actually was Knute Rockne that started the tradition in the 1920s against perennial football power and Irish pest Navy:
Back in the 1920s during the Knute Rockne days, the Notre Dame varsity generally wore blue while the freshman squad wore green. But, on several occasions the varsity team did wear green — simply for purposes of distinction when the Irish opponent also came out in blue. Games against Navy, for example, in the late 1920s featured green-clad Notre Dame teams, to avoid confusion with the Navy’s blue uniforms.
Rockne didn’t mind using the color change as a psychological ploy. When Notre Dame faced Navy in Baltimore in 1927, the Irish head coach started his second-string reserves. Navy retaliated by scoring a touchdown in the first five minutes of the game. But, just as the Midshipmen scored, reported George Trevor in the New York Sun, Rockne made his move:
‘‘Instantaneously the Notre Dame regulars yanked off their blue outer sweaters and like a horde of green Gila monsters darted onto the field. From that moment on Notre Dame held the initiative, imposed its collective will upon the Navy.’’
The Irish came from behind to win that one 19-6 — then did the same thing the following year in Chicago’s Soldier Field, this time beating Navy 7-0. The 1928 edition of the Scholastic Football Review included this description:
‘‘Mr. K. K. Rockne may, or may not, be a psychologist. But, he did array his Fighting Irish in bright green jerseys for their battle with the United States Naval Academy. Mr. Rockne evidently surmised that garbing a band of native and adopted Irish in their native color is somewhat akin to showing a bull the Russian flag.’’
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