:: Notre Dame Football: Irish Game Day ::
Will Notre Dame Stadium be Loud Enough to Warrant a Championship?
Leprechaun Express: Notre Dame Football Intel Update Sept. 2, 2011
The last time Notre Dame won a consensus national championship in football, the student body had a flag thrown against us in the opening game for being too loud. We caused them to stop the game for five or ten minutes because the steady roar prevented the opposing team, Michigan, from hearing its own signals.
Last year, the crowd showed some promise, especially in big wins like the games against Pitt, Utah and Purdue. Today's student body is picking things up quite a bit, but it will be up to the alumni and subway alumni to pick up the pace. Against Pitt, especially, this was noticeable, when a lot of good Irish defensive action occurred in from of alumni sections near the side and corner opposite the student body, which seemed to get as loud as the student body, with the rest of the crowd joining in.
After that game, especially, Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly and quarterback Dayne Crist, as the author recalls, would later spontaneously recall what they called a great atmosphere.
As it happened, the Irish defense seemed to feed off it, giving it all and then some on the field, and sought to stoke the energy between plays, waving their arms upward.
When the crowd got louder, its steady roar punctuated by in-play crescendoes, good things happened. Big defensive plays, opponent mistakes and misses, and what should have been a safety when the Irish defense crushed Pitt in its own end zone. The crowd was so into it, they even kept it up through fourth down, as if, having been robbed of the safety, they would be satisfied with nothing less than a blocked punt for a touchdown.
Will Notre Dame be loud enough this year to warrant a championship?
The author once read an article talking about how, in the German language, there was a word that did not have a direct English translation. The word was "spannung" and it meant the kind of tension and anticipation that could be cut with a knife, like the last moments of an athletic contest that has been back-and-forth and over-the-top, with incredible epic proportions of effort, excellence, and suspense about to culminate in a still-unkown result.
Actually, traditionally at least, it turns out that this word did have a translation in English -- Notre Dame Football.
Let's see if the team and the crowd can prove that again in 2011.
Keywords: Notre Dame Football, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, University of Notre Dame
Leprechaun Express Site Map Main Divisions
Home | Newswire | Game Day | Depth Chart | Schedule | Irish Lore | Recruiting |
© 2007-2012 All Rights Reserved
While founded and directed by a Notre Dame alumnus, this site itself has no official affiliation with, or licensure from, the University of Notre Dame du Lac. It does recommend you also visit the official Notre Dame Athletics site at www.und.com. Go Irish!
Steven C. Welsh, Editor and Contributor
Steven C. Welsh, Web Design and Graphic Design
