Aug. 4, 2009
September 24, 2006, was turning into an ugly day for the Notre Dame football team. The weather was lousy, the Irish were struggling offensively and defensively and a season that began with the Irish ranked in the top five was quickly slipping away.
Head coach Charlie Weis challenged his team at halftime. He warned them that the season was slipping away. The Irish responded, though in dramatic fashion, they decided to wait until the fourth quarter.
Trailing 37-21 with 15 minutes left, Brady Quinn threw touchdown passes to Jeff Samardzija and Rhema McKnight to cut the lead to 37-33 with just under five minutes left. Then Michigan State quarterback Drew Stanton dropped back, looking to make a play, but the Irish defense called a perfect zone blitz…
It was a special day for the Irish – and for the und.com video crew. Notre Dame posted its biggest fourth quarter comeback since the 1979 Cotton Bowl and the MSU game that year was the first road trip for the und.com video crew.
We were still figuring out what we were doing back then, but there is nothing better than rushing the field after a come-from-behind victory –
We also nabbed our first post game press conference on the road with Coach Weis –
And our final video from that weekend was a little tape study, looking back at the comeback –
When und.com launched its redesigned site on July 8, 2009, we asked for Irish fans to vote for the top plays of the Charlie Weis era. After close to 13,000 votes, Notre Dame fans have determined the top 10 plays since 2005 – and we will be unveiling them one at a time over the next 10 business days until fall football practice begins on Aug. 8.
Lambert’s pick six is #4 on the list – check back on Wednesday, Aug. 5, as we continue the countdown to #1 and to Coach Weis’ first press conference of the 2009 season on Friday, Aug. 7.