Notre Dame Trip Week Day #3 - Here Come the Irish!

"We went to Notre Dame because we loved the place. We didn't go because of a coach. We didn't go to win championships. Because we loved the place, we always felt we had an opportunity to win. We were the University of Notre Dame and we belong here. We truly believed we'd win every time out." ~Former ND Player

And then, after all of the campus touring and pre-game festivities, visiting with my friends, and almost losing my ticket, it was finally time to walk into the stadium. As we were walking around the outside of the stadium to get to the correct gate, I told my friends, "This is just like Rudy when he was running around asking people for tickets in the movie!" It was awesome.

Walking into the stadium was unreal....I can't even describe how exciting it was! We, of course, had to get our first photos inside Notre Dame Stadium!

Just about the same minute we started walking to the entrance of the stadium, it started to rain. And it was cold (which necessitated hot chocolate number 3......so much for swearing it off the day before!) I was told by friends watching on tv that it looked like a monsoon.

Once while trying to clean the rain off my glasses, one of the lenses popped out. ND Friend was worried---I said, "It's okay, I can watch with one eye if I have to!" Yes, I am hard core. Luckily, I was able to fix the situation and got to see the game with both of my eyes in tact.

We had awesome seats on the 50 yard line. We were at the very top of the stadium, and I honestly think that those were the best seats in the house. Not only did we have a great view of the game, but we could also see the Bascilica steeple, golden dome, and Touchdown Jesus. It was like a movie. For the pre-game at the stadium, the band played the Notre Dame fight song again....Da na na na na na na na na.....you get the point. The bagpipers marched. The Leprechaun danced. I ate it all up. Then they had Senior day presentations where each of the Seniors was recognized with his parents on the field.
And then.....it was time. The gold helmets started to emerge from the tunnel. And then, the moment I had been waiting for.......the announcer says......"HERE COME THE IRISH!" and they burst onto the field! You'll notice that the pictures are blurry. I was so excited, my hands were shaking!
Many went to the end zone to say a quick prayer. (And this is why I need to marry a former Irish football player....they love football, gave flowers to their mama's on senior day, and pray before the game! Sigh.) Now I won't play by play the game for you (although I could!), but let me just tell you that Notre Dame KILLED Utah. It was a huge upset. The first time since 1996 an unranked ND team beat a ranked team. High School Buddy and I like to think that we are the luck of the Irish. We'll be informing Coach Kelly of that in hopes that he'll see it necessary to buy us season tickets.
The Irish won in extiting fashion. There was a great blocked punt, an interception that led to a touchdown, a fumble recovery on the first half kickoff.....it was just amazing! Utah only scored one field goal (which was in the first 7 minutes of the game) and the rest of the afternoon was all Irish!

The final score was 28-3. And the students rushed the field. They ran and danced and did zig zags in between the band members. It was great. And, I'll confess, had I been sitting anywhere near the student secton, I would have totally joined in! Luckily, Mr. FFA took part and I lived vicariously through him! And there would be more pictures, but my second set of batteries died at this point....
Oh, and one final thought. There were several guys sitting near us who had terrible attitudes the whole time. When ND had a good return on the opening kick off, the guy next to ND friend said, "It'll all be downhill from here." The guys next to me hated every play call. Anything that Notre Dame did that was good was "lucky" and anything that they did that was bad was the dumbest move ever made on the field. If you are going to have that attitude, stay home. Gripe at your tv. Be lucky we didn't smack you in the head, because it was discussed. Instead, we settled for ND friend looking at the guy next to her and responding, "So that wasn't really downhill now was it?" at the end of the game. Jerkface.

But don't you worry....these guys didn't ruin our fun. The game could not have been better and it was a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget!