One year ago today, October 15, 2005, was — I think I can say this without qualification or caveat — the single greatest day in college football history.

There have, of course, been many great games in college-football history, and while last October 15’s battle between USC and Notre Dame certainly has a reasonable claim on “greatest game ever” status, it’s by no means a shoo-in. There are plenty of other games that would also have to be considered (including last year’s Rose Bowl!), and one year later is simply too early to make such a judgment, comparing the Irish-Trojan classic to other legendary games of the past.

But even if history ultimately judges that USC-ND doesn’t deserve the title of “greatest game ever,” I think it’s safe to say that there been never been another day of football quite like October 15, 2005. It wasn’t just about the Irish and the Trojans, though they were certainly a big part of it. On that day, not only did you have one of the greatest single games ever, but you also had five other very dramatic games involving ranked teams that came down to a single, decisive play in the waning seconds — and four of those games had major national implications.

There was Michigan-Penn State, in which Mario Manningham’s touchdown pass with 1 second left ended the Nittany Lions’ undefeated season. Penn State would not lose again, and went on to win the Orange Bowl.

There was West Virginia-Louisville, a triple-overtime shootout that ultimately decided the Big East title and sent WVU to the Sugar Bowl, which they won convincingly and established themselves as legit 2006-07 title contenders.

There was Alabama-Ole Miss, which the then-undefeated Crimson Tide won on a field goal as time expired to stay alive for the national championship.

There was UCLA-Washington State, a game Wazzu seemed sure to win until the Bruins managed probably the most incredible comeback of a season riddled with incredible comebacks. They won in overtime, improved to 6-0 and stayed in the hunt for a Pac-10 and national title.

And there was Wisconsin-Minnesota, a battle of ranked Big Ten teams that was decided by a botched punt in the final minute.

Oh yeah, and if all that wasn’t enough, October 15 was also the date of John L. Smith’s infamous “the coaches are screwing it up” rant, which resulted from a botched punt just before halftime that allowed Ohio State to turn the tide against Michigan State and ultimately win, staying in the hunt for a BCS at-large bid. The Buckeyes, of course, earned that bid, went to the Fiesta Bowl, beat Notre Dame, and became the 2006-07 favorite.

Think about that. The seven games (including USC-ND) that I just mentioned — all of which were extremely dramatic and memorable, and six of which were decided in the final minute (or overtime), if not on the final play — involved five of the eight teams that would ultimately reach the BCS, and three of the four BCS bowl winners. You had the Trojans (Rose Bowl losers), Irish (Fiesta Bowl losers), Buckeyes (Fiesta Bowl winners), Mountaineers (Sugar Bowl winners) and Nittany Lions (Orange Bowl winners). And with the exception of the Lions, all of those teams’ bowl destinations would have been different if their October 15 game had turned out differently (assuming everything else had gone the same way for the rest of the season). And all those games almost did turn out differently.

It was, to say the least, an amazing day of football — and, perhaps even more remarkably, one whose significance stood the test of time as the season progressed.

Naturally, though, for me personally October 15 was all about USC-Notre Dame. (I am the “Irish Trojan,” after all.) Becky and I woke up early to be on ESPN GameDay, and we spent pretty much the whole day psyching ourselves up for the showdown. We did, as I recall, catch John L. Smith’s halftime meltdown live during a brief pit-stop at the apartment in between GameDay and the game, but other than that, I didn’t find out about October 15’s other dramatic finishes until hours later, and I didn’t truly grasp what an all-around remarkable day it had been until I saw the “DRAMA MAJORS” section on the Sports page of the next day’s New York Times, which still hangs in Becky’s and my apartment:

But, of course, it wasn’t necessary to know about the other dramatic finishes to understand that something historic had happened that day, because the USC-ND game was itself plenty historic, and I was there for it, wearing cardinal & gold and cheering on the Trojans from my regular spot in the Notre Dame student section. (This is the part where I explain to the totally uninitiated: I went to USC for undergrad. I go to Notre Dame for law school. I have season tickets in the ND student section, and I root for the Irish in every game but one — the ‘SC game. As my alma mater, USC of course has my first loyalty, so I’m a Trojan fan first, an Irish fan second.)

Becky and our friend (and later bridesmaid) Adrienne were there, too, and we made quite a trio, an island of red in a sea of green.


About a half-hour before kickoff.

As you may recall, the battle between #1 USC, with its national title defense and 27-game winning streak on the line, and #9 Notre Dame, awakening the echoes under first-year wunderkind coach Charlie Weis, was pretty much the most-hyped game in the history of the universe. The night before had seen a nationally televised pep rally at the stadium emceed by Rudy and featuring Joe Montana as a speaker (though it did not feature Bon Jovi or Bruce Springsteen, rumors on the Internets to the contrary). When the Trojans had arrived for their walk-through on Friday, they had been “greeted” by a sea of hundreds, maybe a couple thousand, of Fighting Irish faithful. Then of course there was GameDay, Kirk and Corso, Cold Pizza, and essentially the entire national sports media on campus. The utter craziness of the pregame hype transferred over into the stadium, where the atmosphere was electric — absolutely electric — from the very start, even well before kickoff. When the Irish came out of the tunnel wearing their green jerseys, it sent the already frenzied crowd into, somehow, an even bigger frenzy. (Hell, it sent me into a frenzy, and I wasn’t even rooting for the Irish!)

What’s really amazing, of course, is that the game itself managed to not just live up to the impossible hype, but to exceed it.

The game was tense throughout, a real back-and-forth affair, and man, was I nervous. Never in my life had I been so emotionally invested in a sporting event. For weeks leading up to the game, I had repeatedly joked that if USC lost, I would “have to drop out of law school” because I’d never hear the end of it. That’s an exaggeration of course, but the fact is, I’m the unabashed, unrepentant Trojan at Notre Dame, so my friends would have ripped on me something fierece if the Irish had won, and rightfully so. As a result, I felt like my personal pride was at stake on that field. Besides which, all personal considerations aside, I just really, really, really wanted the Trojans to win.

A funny thing happened in the final minutes of the game, though. As intense as it was, I went from being a nervous wreck to being remarkably sanguine about the game’s outcome. I know that’s counterintuitive, given how incredibly close and exciting the final minutes were, but the closer we got to the end — especially after Brady Quinn scored the go-ahead touchdown and the entire crowd went so unbelievably crazy that I was literally hearing static because it was too loud for my ears to really process the level of sound — the more I realized, you know what, no matter who ends up winning this game, it is just so freakin’ cool that I am here.


If Notre Dame Stadium had a roof, it would not have survived the cheers from Notre Dame’s go-ahead TD.

As I watched the full moon rise over the eastern side of the stadium, and listened to the crowd scream its collective lungs out, all the while witnessing a truly epic battle unfolding on the field below, I realized that I would literally someday tell my grandkids that I had been at this game.

And then it got better.

I don’t need to remind y’all of what happened in the final minute-and-a-half of the game; you already know. A few phrases should get the point across, like: 4th and 9. Leinart to Jarrett. Holy s**t. Then, 0:00 on the clock. The crowd rushes the field. The crowd rushes off the field (amazingly fast). A season saved by the luckiest fumble in the history of the universe. No timeouts. No spike. No fear. The Bush Push. A touchdown. A USC victory. Somehow, a USC victory. Holy f**ing s**t. Not quite Cal-Stanford, but… wow. WOW.

The historical significance of the moment was not lost on me, even as it happened. The second of these two video clips (both of which have been viewed more than 34,000 times each, thanks to numerous links from both USC and Notre Dame fan sites and message boards over the last 365 days) proves that. Warning: there’s some profanity in the second clip.

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In addition to being an epic sporting event, that game was ultimate “Irish Trojan experience,” if you will. I was rooting with all my heart, all day long, for USC, but as soon as the clock hit 0:00 (er, for the second time), all animosity toward Notre Dame ceased, and I instantly became an Irish fan again. When the ND band played the alma mater, I stepped down a row, stood in between two of my law school friends, and — still wearing my USC sweatshirt — swayed back and forth with everyone else, and proclaimed, “Love thee, Notre Dame!” After all, I do love Notre Dame. I just love USC a little more. :)

I’m not sure what else I can say about that game, or that day. One of my goals in developing “Bloypedia” is to someday make a list of my top all-time life experiences, and there is no question that attending the USC-Notre Dame game on October 15, 2005 will be in the Top Five. It was simply incredible. Once, last spring, I found myself thinking back on my 2L year and sorta wishing I’d spent it in NDLS’s London Program… but then it hit me, if I’d gone to London, I wouldn’t have been at the game. That settled the question immediately, putting my regrets about not going to London entirely to rest. There’s no way I can possibly regret a decision that resulted in me having the opportunity to attend that game. As a certain Michigan State radio host might say, that game was the best thing “ever… ever… EVER!!!” And I wouldn’t trade that experience for the world.

You can view galleries of my USC-Notre Dame photos — and a link to all of my videos — here. Not that they even come close to doing it justice. You really had to be there. And I was. :)

Anyway, I guess I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank the football gods for making Saturday, October 15, 2005 so unbelievably awesome. Thanks, guys.