Nice clips, Jay. Thanks to TJ & Kevin for putting them together. I'm sure I watched those games as a kid but have no recollection at all. Probably blocked the 78 game out of my mind due to those hideous uniforms! And those are the ones we'll be wearing against USC? I'm thinking I might turn off the HDTV that day and just watch it in SD. Yee Uck.
Eddie | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 8:29 am | #

Awesome! Thanks.
OldFan | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 9:01 am | #

Man, Ferguson was really good.
Jay | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 9:09 am | #

What a bunch of A-hole fans. I remember watching the Pistons "beer cup" incident and the media outrage that ensued, and that pales in comparison to this.
Chris | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 9:12 am | #

Who is this "Montana" guy they keep referring to?
Domer97 | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 9:18 am | #

Glad I got to give a plug for Al Wester. Though may revere Tony Roberts (and rightly so) as the definitive voice of Notre Dame Football, Wester called many of ND's greatest moments of the 1970's, including the '74 upset of UCLA in basketball, and the legendary "Green Jersey Game" vs. USC in '77.

Perhaps Wester's most famous call, though, is this one from a Lions/Saints game in 1970.

http://www.cdol.com/saints/dempsey.html
tjnd88 | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 9:26 am | #

'77 Game: GT fans thought we poured it on? We had our 3rd string QB in the game!

'78 Game: Did Ferguson have non-stick cooking spray (Pam) on his Jersey? Tacklers kept sliding off of him left and right.

Chris: The reason the beer cup thing at the Pistons game was relevant is Ron Artest went 7 rows up INTO THE CROWD to try and beat the snot out of some guy he thought was the one who threw it. I think Stephen Jackson did the same. Jermaine O'Neal laid some fan out who came onto the court, too. It wasn't about throwing debris, it was about throwing punches.
Erik '04 | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 9:53 am | #

Oh, P.S. When did ND lose the "Fighting Irish" endzone marker in favor of the slanted stripes?
Erik '04 | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 9:54 am | #

Ferguson stood out in those highlights. He looked like a man among boys.
rbingham'97 | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 10:02 am | #

Great work with the videos.
Could you guys volunteer to help the novices at CSTV?
Bob | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 10:07 am | #

Anybody know what Devine said to the players before they went back to the sideline? It seemed like he was pretty fired up.
OITLinebacker | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 10:18 am | #

The '77 game looks like something out of Play Station... all-out super beatdown. SO GLORIOUS!!!
Fighting Binny | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 10:37 am | #

Any one know what the half time score was in 77? I think that is the game Eddie Lee Ivory took back the opening kickoff? I believe it was half time in the tunnel that Pepper Rodgers told an ND player that Georgia Tech would kick ND's ass in the second half. He went into the locker room and they came out smoking mad. ND came out and poured it on 48 second half points.
irishman51 | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 10:56 am | #

Erik - I understand that part of the outrage, however the media made a HUGE deal of the "raucous" Detroit crowd that someone would actually throw a beer cup. Not saying it's ok, but not even close to these GT fans.
Chris | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 11:09 am | #

In '77, there was no scoring in the 1st Quarter. ND got its 1st TD in the 2nd Q on a Montana sneak from the 1. GT's Drew Hill then lateraled the ensuing kickoff to Eddie Lee Ivery, who dashed 97 yards for the score. And GT had its only lead, 7-6. Halftime score was 21-7. ND erupted for 48 second half points, and GT's offense never crossed the 50-yard line until their final drive of the game.

Whether it was the outcome of the '76 game (GT won without throwing a single pass), the rivalry with old Devine nemesis Pepper Rogers, or simply an attempt to impress the pollsters....Devine did indeed run it up on Tech. Up 62-7 late in the game, ND was still throwing passes trying to score. Justified or not, it set the tone for the anger in Atlanta in 1978.
tjnd88 | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 11:13 am | #

Remember, last year's game in Atlanta - The late hit out of bounds on Brady in the second half? The crowd booed and someone "one-hopped" a water bottle at the referee, managing to hit the referee's hand. Somewhere, there was a father who attended the '78 game with ND who was beaming with pride.
Sean Fitzgerald | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 11:15 am | #

As I have said a couple of times, ND should NOT lose to GT. They might lose, in a bizarre situation where they turn the ball over 7 times, but by all means, ND should smack GT down.

All time ND vs. GT record?

ND 27 wins, 5 loses, 1 tie.

ND should NOT lose to GT.
atepesm | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 11:57 am | #

Does Waymer have any eligibility left? His run after the catch was unbelievable in the '77 clip. This was my favorite part of all the clips. The students crowding the endzone, joyously celebrating with Waymer. Check it out because the leprechaun comes into view to pat Waymer on the back. He looks like one of Fagan's boys from Oliver Twist - black outfit, striped socks and white shoes, carrying a simple Irish flag (no "ND" adornments). Cool.

Does anyone know the symbol in the endzone? Is it a poorly drawn football, or is it a depiction of the full moon?
Andy | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 12:04 pm | #

The endzone marking in the '70's was an oval with the Leprechaun logo inside of it. Difficult to see in these old films.
tjnd88 | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 12:22 pm | #

I recall sometime within the past year that someone made note of playing a football game "in the South, at night" only to be derided by a reader.

So, there's actually history to all of this football, including our own?
Good piece, Jay. Thanks.

Go Irish

p.s.

tepesm - check out this series and you'll see that a third of our "w"'s are games we coulda/shoulda probably lost.

We should NEVER lose to USC.
Bill H. | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 12:34 pm | #

Chris: You're right, the crowd was not the problem in Detroit. I misunderstood your "media coverage" remark.

BGS Moderators: Is there any way to make it so the movies don't start playing by themselves. It's a good way to turn some heads here at work when three football announcers simultaneously start talking from my computer. Thanks! :)
Erik '04 | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 1:03 pm | #

I've noticed that the clips do not start playing automatically in Firefox, but they do when using Internet Explorer.

Jay, you may want to use a different embedding option from Blip.

Try the embed codes for posting on MySpace as opposed to the Blog/Website option and see if there's any difference in IE.
tjnd88 | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 1:32 pm | #

TJND and Jay,
indeed... When I hit the page, all three clips play at once using IE. It's pretty distracting... For my co-workers!
IdSoonerBeIrish | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 1:44 pm | #

Thanks for the heads-up -- I think I have it fixed now for IE. Let me know.
Jay | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 2:06 pm | #

Working better now. Thanks, Jay.
tjnd88 | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 2:23 pm | #

Thanks, Jay!
Erik '04 | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 4:19 pm | #

TJ is the man.
Joe | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 5:02 pm | #

p.s. Is blip.tv the way to go now? Quality sure looks better than the finger painting provided by youtube.
Joe | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 5:05 pm | #

You Tube's flash files were not only very "blocky" and difficult to watch, but the audio would always get off-sync with the picture.

Blip's flash renderings of my uploaded videos are much nicer, and the sound is right on.
tjnd88 | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 6:03 pm | #

It was a different game back then. I remember listening to the games on WCFL AM 1000 out of Chicago.

The Georgia Tech game in Coach Devine's last season, 1980, was also interesting. The Irish went into Atlanta undefeated and untied and left with a 3-3 tie. The South Bend Tribune headline was something to the effect of "Tech-nically Irish Lose". That was the year Harry Oliver made the 51 yard field goal versus Michigan and the Irish beat Alabama 7-0 in Birmingham. As the season went on I had hopes of a charmed season ending with a national championship. After the tie with Tech, however, there was a season ending loss to USC and then a Sugar Bowl loss to a Georgia team with a pretty good back by the name of Walker.

I believe it was the 1978 season, but there was a stretch of something like 24 consecutive quarters during which the Irish defense did not give up a touchdown. I don't think I'll ever see that again.

The "Dump Devine" bumperstickers came out pretty early in Coach Devine's tenure, but in retrospect, his teams were pretty solid.
farmboy | Email | Homepage | 08.30.07 - 6:17 pm | #

Why were we wearing dark (green) jersies while playing in atlanta in 1978?
chris | Email | Homepage | 08.31.07 - 2:39 pm | #