I am happy to say that I could have countless hours in ball parks, arenas and stadiums in this whole country. I have seen my teams draw insurgents, sound championships and suffer many heartbreaking and blowout defeats.
I’ve never been so crazy leaving a game in my life as I was on September 3, 2011.
With reports that Notre Dame will be leaving South Florida on September 19, flashbacks immediately came to me from the epic disaster that was that Saturday afternoon.
After a 1-3 and 4-5 start in 2010, Notre Dame won its last three regular season games, including the first win over USC in nearly a decade, before Miami (Florida) lost in the Sun Bowl.
The improvement the team made that year was clear, and the hype began to follow the Irish, who entered the 2011 season 16th in the nation.
To open that season, South Florida came into town and just about anything that could go wrong, the day went wrong for Notre Dame.
When Dayne Crist was about to put an exclamation point on the opening drive with a touchdown, Jonas Gray fumbled and Kayvon Webster ran it 96 yards back for a South Florida touchdown.
Early in the second quarter, the Irish were again on the verge of getting on the scoreboard when a Crist pass fell into the hands of TJ Jones and in the final zone was intercepted for a Bulls touchback.
Theo Riddick came in to finish the match. He muffed a point that was restored by USF and led to a Bulls field goal and their 16-0 save of the half.
Rain and thunder came, and Notre Dame finally woke up a little behind Tommy Rees, who threw for almost 300 yards from the bench, but five turnovers did that afternoon in the Domers and my blood is still boiling thinking about how stupid that was loss.
Notre Dame passed USF that day 508-254. For the most part, they dominated.
Unfortunately, that was included in the turnover department where the Irish ended up with five to USFs zero.
It was a dumb loss, maddening and deflated the high hopes of 2011 quickly, while the lightning delays only made things worse.
I have never walked out of a stadium, so crazy about what I had just seen in my life. I’m glad life has changed my perspective on sports a bit.
A week later, things got worse when the Irish gifted Michigan a game that still makes no sense.
With Duke and South Florida set to begin this season, Notre Dame fans will see those names and remember some horrific memories of home games in September in some recent seasons.
Let’s hope this time the new head coach of USF, Jeff Scott, is the one who turns purple on the sidelines and not Brian Kelly.
If for some goddamn reason you want to relive that 2011 game, you can do so here, in agreement with “The Vault: ND on NBC”.
Related: The eight teams played Notre Dame football but never beat it (hint – a team named in this piece is on the list)
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