Sept. 25, 2006

By John Heisler

When last we left these two storied programs 14 seasons back, Notre Dame running back Reggie Brooks snatched an unlikely Rick Mirer two-point conversion throw with 20 seconds remaining to give the eighth-rated Irish a 17-16 victory over 22nd-rated Penn State.

“Mirer scrambles away from (Rich) McKenzie toward the right sideline and throws in the back right corner of the end zone for Brooks who fully extends and makes the catch before going out of bounds for the two-point conversion,” read the official, typed play by play.

It was a bizarre ending to a bizarre November weather day in which 32-degree temperatures prompted intermittent snow showers that made for some memorable (at least, for Irish fans) shots of Notre Dame Stadium grass turned white.

“Let’s put it this way, Reggie Brooks is not the first guy I would want to throw to,” suggested then-Irish coach Lou Holtz.

That play (Brooks had caught only one pass in his entire Irish career to that point) came after a fourth-and-goal Mirer touchdown pass to Jerome Bettis.

But, so much for history.

That last meeting between the Irish and Nittany Lions in 1992 ended, at least temporarily, what had been 12 years worth (1981-92) of intersectional matchups between two of the few remaining college football independents.

Penn State headed off to the Big Ten Conference a year later in ’93, eliminating the final two Irish-Nittany Lion contests that had been slated for ’93 and ’94. Notre Dame filled those vacancies with Florida State – and the ’93 Irish-Seminole game became the epic one-versus-two clash that pushed the Irish to 10-0 and the top slot in the polls.

Interestingly, the Irish actually were slated to play Alabama here today and again next year in Tuscaloosa in games agreed to back in 1997. But the Tide had to opt out due to a complicated scheduling conflict – and Penn State filled the bill.

Future projected starts of Big Ten Conference play on the final Saturday in September make going beyond the Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue relationships difficult for Notre Dame – but, for at least these two seasons, the Irish will play four straight Saturdays against Big Ten opponents. That previously happened in ’91 when Indiana was the fourth team – and from ’92 through ’94 when Northwestern was the extra Big Ten foe. In all four of those years the Irish began the season facing four straight Big Ten opponents.

Consider that players, coaches – and fans – of both teams may actually sweat this afternoon in Notre Dame Stadium. That didn’t actually happen much in any of those dozen games from ’81 to ’92 – with all of them played Nov. 12 or later and nasty weather (at both sites) more the norm than the exception.

While these two programs previously played five other games dating back to 1913 (including the 1976 Gator Bowl that Notre Dame won 20-9), it’s those dozen clashes in the ’80s and ’90s that fans of both schools remember most. And it didn’t hurt the rivalry that Pennsylvania products like Ricky Watters (Harrisburg) and Raghib Ismail (Wilkes-Barre) ended up in Irish uniforms.

The Nittany Lions protected a number-one ranking in State College in ’85 in Gerry Faust’s final season with the Irish. Meanwhile, Notre Dame came into the game ranked number one in three straight seasons from ’88 through ’90. Six of those dozen games were decided by five points or less.

Only in ’83 and ’84 were both teams unranked – and at least one team boasted a top-10 rating in nine of those 12 games.

Today marks a first-ever sideline matchup between two coaches at opposite ends of their collegiate tenures. This is Charlie Weis’ 14th game as a college head coach. Penn State’s Joe Paterno coached his 14th college game in 1967 at Boston College in front of 15,500 fans.

Few Irish fans passed on a chance to see this outing – it qualifies as the highest-demanded ticket in the history of Notre Dame football, based on the single-game alumni requests. Interest at the Penn State end was no different, mainly because the two teams rebounded from a combined 10-13 record in 2004 to both play in Bowl Championship Series events following the ’05 season.

Don’t count on snow this time around. But, rest assured, fans from both contingents are anticipating fireworks of some sort today before dusk envelops Notre Dame’s home arena.