[UPDATE: I’ve posted 11 downloadable videos from the game, including downloadable versions of the two clips below, here. Also, my USC-ND photo galleries can be found here.]
Here’s a video clip of absolutely the craziest scene I’ve ever witnessed at a sporting event: Notre Dame fans believing they’ve won, rushing the field, then being ordered off the field and being told the game isn’t over yet; there are still seven seconds left.
That was followed just moments later by Matt Leinart’s game-winning touchdown for USC:
Wow.
[WARNING: The f-word is audible in the second video clip.]
I also took a ton of photos of yesterday’s game and pre-game festivities. However, I may not have time to post those until Monday, as today (Sunday) I will be packing for, and then leaving for, Fall Break in Arizona. I’ll get the pictures up as soon as I can, though.
UPDATE: Welcome, new visitors who came here through a link to this post! Please come back soon, as I will be adding more videos and photos on Monday!! Visit my homepage for the latest.
FYI, for those who may be wondering… I am a 2003 USC grad who now goes to Notre Dame Law School. I have season tickets for ND football, and I root for the Irish when they’re not playing USC… but of course, I root for the Trojans above all else, since USC is my alma mater and I’m a Trojan forever! So that’s why I was sitting in the Notre Dame student section, yet rooting for ‘SC. The voice you hear screaming “that was f***ing awesome” after Leinart’s TD is my fiancee, Becky, who is also a Trojan. The Notre Dame fans (some of whom are my friends from the law school, others of whom I don’t know personally) were amazingly tolerant of our presence, all things considered. We also toned it down considerably because of our location. We didn’t want to disrespect ND, since we were in their section, and also, we didn’t want to get killed. :)
|
Categories: Video clips
|
October 16th, 2005 at 2:40:15 am
Maybe it’s just the camera, but man it looks like you guys need a Hubble to see the action on the other side of the field.
October 16th, 2005 at 2:49:54 am
The video quality does suck, but yeah, it’s kinda hard to see the red-zone action over there.
October 16th, 2005 at 2:55:08 am
hey ucla keeps winning
October 16th, 2005 at 3:34:34 am
This is absolutely in no way shape or form like the Cal-Stanford game. Actually, what are you thinking that you would even make that comparison?
In that game, the Stanford band, because they don’t know jack about football; trust me, I know people in the Stanford band and this is still true to this day; saw the 0:00 on the clock and thought the game was over, none of them realizing that the last play does not end at that point. So them and their stupid band, stupid in many more ways than one, basically lost the game for their team by allowing Cal a ridiculously improbable touchdown.
Notre Dame students are not so stupid that they would rush the field while a play was in progress. There was no play. Time had run out. The team and the coach, Charlie Weis, possibly the person most knowledgeable about football in the world, signalled victory.
October 16th, 2005 at 4:23:21 am
Charlie Weis, possibly the person most knowledgeable about football in the world
Bwaaaaaahahahahaha. Thanks for the laugh. Pride is one thing, but damn, most knowledgeable person about football in the world? You Domers are more full of yourselves than I thought…
October 16th, 2005 at 6:59:22 am
Funny how Weis thought time had run out and celebrated while Pete Carroll (via an admission in the ensuing press conf.) wasn’t worried at all, as he knew what the situation would ultimately result in. If you’re going on record as saying that Weis thought he won despite what was obvious to everyone (except those at the game) that a clock error was made, then perhaps we know why Carroll’s team won today.
October 16th, 2005 at 9:14:13 am
” If you’re going on record as saying that Weis thought he won despite what was obvious to everyone (except those at the game) that a clock error was made, then perhaps we know why Carroll’s team won today.”
Oh please.
The fumble in question took place on the other side of the field, as far as humanly possible from Weiss and with 22 players and referees in his field of view. As compared to Carroll who was right there. Even amongst the officials, only 1 saw the fumble and gave the proper signal.
You can criticize Weiss or praise Carroll, but to do it on the basis of this is really weak.
October 16th, 2005 at 12:13:36 pm
Crazy video. Totally unbelievably freakin insane.
October 16th, 2005 at 12:51:09 pm
I know what happened in the Cal-Stanford game, and I’m not claiming that what happened here was the same. But I’m saying it was crazy ridiculous in a similar, though obviously not identical, manner.
I don’t think this game surpasses Cal-Stanford on the “craziest ending to a game ever” scale. But I do think it’s in that same stratosphere of games (and endings of games) that are not just classic, but immortal.
October 16th, 2005 at 12:51:36 pm
P.S. And I was there! :)
October 16th, 2005 at 1:11:01 pm
first, thank you for the shots NBC did not give us. I love seeing the crowd response. Priceless.
If Weiss is so knowledgeable he would have watched the officials not the clock. The officials signaled to stop the clock. He didn’t even need to see the play to see that. Most knowledgeable. Thats a god one.
It’s not easy being green.
October 16th, 2005 at 1:24:29 pm
If Weis didn’t see the fumble, he is blind. I SAW THE FUMBLE from the opposite corner of the friggin field. It wasn’t like Leinhart dropped the ball on the ground in the middle of 50 players and someone kicked it out of bounds. That ball flew through the air; it was a spectacular fumble. Truly.
And if Weis was watching the scoreboard, he really is a moron because that scoreboard was consistently wrong all day. Really, that guy needs to be fired.
October 16th, 2005 at 1:26:28 pm
P.S. I think it should be noted that Becky means the scoreboard guy should be fired, not Weis. :)
October 16th, 2005 at 1:26:53 pm
P.P.S. And she is quite right, the scoreboard guy sucked.
October 16th, 2005 at 2:48:13 pm
What is it that the ND fans are waving in the air in the first video, before the play??
Oh, and thanks for the great vids..I’loved ‘em.
October 16th, 2005 at 3:04:21 pm
Car keys, trying to make noise. Normally that’s reserved for third down, but at the end I guess they wanted to make as much nosie as possible on every play…
October 16th, 2005 at 3:56:05 pm
The car-key thing was a “tradition” in my high school, although it was never really practiced. It’s supposed to symbolize the unity of the fans as they rally behind the team. Maybe it means something else at ND, though.
October 16th, 2005 at 4:00:28 pm
Great footage. I assume you used a digital camera’s MPEG capability. I took a similarly blurry but (almost-as) amazing clip during the final key defensive downs of the 2004 USC-Cal game.
The footage of the students storming the field is truly priceless. I wish I could download it.
October 16th, 2005 at 4:21:30 pm
It’s 3rd down- a key play. supposedly, it’s something that started to remind Faust that this was a more important play than the previous ones. Somehow, it stuck around for 20 years after he left.
October 16th, 2005 at 4:37:25 pm
Wow - NBC did not show that. Thanks for the clip!
Also, great way to prove that you were indeed noting that the clock shouldn’t have been moving at that point.
October 16th, 2005 at 4:51:15 pm
Brendan, I’m so jealous that you were there for this! Just truly an unbelieveable ending to that game!
October 16th, 2005 at 5:03:02 pm
Thanks for the great footage guys. You must have some balls to be celebrating like that in the ND student section after their defeat. Fight On!!!
October 16th, 2005 at 5:34:03 pm
Yes, thanks for the unbelievable clip. My favorite part is what sounds like a hysterical Celtic banshee screaming “GET OFF THE FIELD! GET OFF THE FIELD!”. I understand better now your comparison to Cal-Stanford. Loyal ND fans must simply resist any and all comparisons to Stanford, so I was just doing my job.
October 16th, 2005 at 7:25:12 pm
Please tell me you will make this available for download. Thank you.
October 16th, 2005 at 7:27:08 pm
Sure… you’ll have to give me a day or two, but I will get the downloadable version online.
October 16th, 2005 at 8:39:36 pm
We were on the 50 yard line opposite the press box for the game. Me and a couple of midwest trojan undrgrades decided that we needed to come to South Bend before we graduated. I have described the experience to so many people but now I am sending people to your site to watch the movies. The first is fantastic, the second one makes me infinitly happy to have been sititng in a big trojan part of the stadium to celebrate.
October 17th, 2005 at 12:25:55 pm
Usc will lose end
October 17th, 2005 at 12:41:45 pm
Vote for Pedro
October 17th, 2005 at 1:37:47 pm
ND was awesome for 59:53.
October 17th, 2005 at 2:39:57 pm
On television, it appeared as if only a few students ran onto the field (cameras were on the teams). I didn’t know that from the thirty yardline and on the field was FULL of Domers.
Thanks for the footage. It must have been mayhem to get back to their seats.
:D
October 17th, 2005 at 6:41:16 pm
Brendan, thanks for the perspective. I was sitting on the opposite side and end of the field, right above the late action. Wish I had video to share, but I snapped a ton o photos. I may stick a few on my blog later this week. BTW, what an spectacular campus!
October 17th, 2005 at 8:10:16 pm
Irish fans flooded the field and Weis walked out on the field with his arms raised, but he never took his headset off. He knew the game wasn’t over.
“Not for one second did I really believe that the clock was really going to run out,” he said.
October 17th, 2005 at 8:12:15 pm
I thought about going to ND for law school because I loved their fans and campus, but I realized I would have thought I was nuts in the second week of snow.
You must be having a blast this week.
October 17th, 2005 at 8:36:27 pm
Hey..nice videos. I was wondering if you could maybe email me a copy of those videos or something. Or is there a place where I could just download them from? They are so crazy. Thanks!
-Wade
(wadefong@usc.edu)
October 17th, 2005 at 9:09:10 pm
I would love a copy of this.
October 18th, 2005 at 2:22:44 pm
thanks for the bad ass footage…
October 18th, 2005 at 5:46:34 pm
I’m a Cal and USC alum. I was at that Cal-Stanford game and that play was so crazy that no one in the stands knew what was going on until the refs called it a TD. Last week’s USC/ND game will definitely go down as an ESPN Classic, but “The Play” will always be number one on the greatest football moments of all time show.
October 18th, 2005 at 5:47:46 pm
wow, i definitely feel even worse about the heart-wrenching loss than i did watching the game at home in alabama on saturday…i am one of the very few die-hard notre dame fans in the state of alabama (imagine the looks I get living in crimson tide territory now that they are doing so well!)…thanks for getting me “in” the game, even if you are an SC fan…the fact that you’re at the ND games, pulling for my beloved irish says something of your good taste…
in my blog, i have made the prediction that the irish will go for the national championship next year…and, brady will win the heisman…i have no doubt about it…you’ll be looking me up next fall asking if i am psychic!
i enjoy your blog almost as much as i enjoy the fighting irish!
October 18th, 2005 at 6:15:16 pm
I am sure you appreciate the fact that you witnessed probably the greatest college football game ever played, if not it is in the top 3 along with Miami-Boston College(Flutie), Nebraska OU 1971, and SC-ND 1974.
What a incrediable game by the greatest rivarly in my opinion in College sports.
October 18th, 2005 at 6:19:06 pm
That would be a Top 4… just sayin’. :) But yeah, I definitely appreciate that. I appreciated it even as it was happening, as the second video clip indicates. :)
Thanks, Rebecca!
Neil, you’re right, “The Play” is still #1. But this was definitely up there.
October 18th, 2005 at 7:40:19 pm
i never understood that, so you’re a Trojan forever but a fighting irish only temporarily? i mean, once you graduae law school what will you do? you’ll be a “forever” alumni to both schools.
I currently go to USC and i’m going to grad school soon so the preponderance that someone my loyalty to USC will supercede that of my current institution or for that matter ocne i become an alumnus doesnt earn it special points to me.
October 18th, 2005 at 7:43:07 pm
USC is #1 in my book, Notre Dame is #2, and it will always be that way, because USC is my undergrad alma mater. Your undergrad alma mater comes first. At least, that’s what most people say, and it’s what I say.
October 19th, 2005 at 2:30:34 am
Your undergrad alma mater comes first. At least, that’s what most people say, and it’s what I say.
“Mindless imitation of peers”
October 19th, 2005 at 2:32:52 am
PLEASE NOTE: “and” does not mean the same thing as “and therefore.”
October 19th, 2005 at 10:29:06 am
I also enjoyed the victory in South Bend. My brother attends USC and has gotten me hooked. Plus, my alma mater, Tulane, is sometimes tough to watch.
What surprised me the most at the game was the insults yelled to us by ND fans. Granted we were sitting in the ND section, but we were not being abnoxious. We shook the shakers and put the V. My mother was hit and kicked. Obsenities were yelled at the 3 of us. Someone tried to grad my USC shaker out of my hand. When I put the V up my hand was hit. It was ridiculous. I undestand if you are upset about the score or calls made by ref, but personal attacks to fans are a little much. I had nothing to do with the calls or game outcome. The usher said he could do nothing about it and that he could not make people move that were sitting in our seats.
I was so embarassed to be Catholic. At the end when the crowd was really furious, my mom and I were scared to walk to the USC midwest alum club buses.
Fight On. I’ll be at the Rosebowl to watch USC 3-peat.
October 19th, 2005 at 4:22:04 pm
ND & KAL SUCKS!!
October 19th, 2005 at 11:36:08 pm
Thanks for those vids!
I, being a Michigan alum, can’t talk smack right now, but I can tell you a couple of things about USC and Notre Dame. Both are class acts. The Rose Bowl 2004 was a blast, and when I went to U-M - ND in South Bend in ‘88, the only chumps I had to deal with while sitting in the ND student section were two guys who went to Wisconsin.
October 20th, 2005 at 4:10:00 pm
Just want to say thanks for putting that up and someone linking. That is just great stuff for someone who had to watch the game from the couch! Cheers man…
October 20th, 2005 at 5:09:44 pm
ND & KAL SUCKS!!
Is that Reggie Bush for real?
October 28th, 2005 at 10:36:50 am
LOVE the blog and the video. Thank god you are as big as a geek as you say you are - I was too wrecked to hold myself together - let alone run a camera. Tracking the “Narnia” release is far-spectrum geek bro - tone it down a notch. Actually, no need, you are already married so let your geek flag fly.
Enjoy the site - thanks for your effort.
March 20th, 2006 at 4:58:08 pm
usc is ssssssssooooooo gay! i think they paid the refs to give him the touchdown for any unexpected reason. that was so cheap because clearly, he gave them too much yardig to be at the 3 yard line! I’M PISSED OFF AT THE REFS!
March 20th, 2006 at 6:28:02 pm
Wow, bitter much? Five months later, you’re still upset about a play where the video evidence, looking at replays from a million different angles, is most definitely inconclusive? Lame.
March 28th, 2006 at 8:58:07 pm
Dude USC is NUMBER 1
I H8 the Fighting Irish and the Bruins more than I h8 the state of GEORGIA
I REALLY H8 Ga!
GO TROJANS!
We lost the rosebowl, but We’re STILL NUMBER 1!!!!
April 14th, 2006 at 6:19:24 pm
that game still fuckin bugs me. especially when usc bandwagons here in vegas go all out on someone’s face about it.
April 14th, 2006 at 6:24:42 pm
Because if Notre Dame had won, no Irish fan would ever have gotten in anyone’s face about it, ever… right… not like ND fans still brag about all the other famous streaks they broke like 50 years ago…
May 26th, 2006 at 8:39:16 am
That was such a great game. I hope USC doesn’t lose this year to ND, but seeing as how we lost a lot of good players…Along with Booty who’s out until sometime in the summer, and Mark Sanchez…[shakes head]
June 11th, 2006 at 7:15:44 am
Hey thanks for posting that. I saw it back in October when you first posted it and loved it then, still love it now! Someone re-posted the link on wearesc.com. I was at the game, in the SC section 1/2 way up, above the band and in line with the goal line. The rollercoaster of emotions was unbelievable (from the highest high to the lowest low to the highest high…etc.). Thanks for bringing back the memories.
July 9th, 2006 at 5:47:28 pm
Awesome videos! Hope ND beats the hell out of everyone else in ‘06 - except USC of course!
July 14th, 2006 at 4:37:05 pm
That was an amazing game and I couldn’t believe what was going on as the announcer was saying “NOTRE DAME FANS, GET OFF THE FIELD, NOTRE DAME COULD BE PENALIZED!!” I’ve never seen so many people move so fast. It was one of those moments where you start thinking, ” WOW, whatever happens, this is going to be GREAT.” It was an amazing sequence of events from Quinn scoring that clutch TD, to the 4th and nine, to the Leinart fumble, to “the push”. When we won, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier. I’ll never forget it. Great job catching that on film.
September 3rd, 2006 at 11:08:39 pm
mike i truly do not like you. notre dame will definetly beat them this year. they just beat dfgdhdfdgfdgffh tech gorgia tech. they have to play penn state next. they have reama McKnight back this year. so much pretty much they are stacked
December 30th, 2006 at 10:17:55 pm
Austin is a idior. “Definitely” my ASS!!!!
December 30th, 2006 at 10:20:21 pm
I agree…Notre Dame and Austin suck!
August 7th, 2007 at 1:50:59 pm
still makes me sad.