Win over historied Notre Dame would be new chapter for Huskies

Knute Rockne. The Gipper. Rudy. The Four Horsemen. Touchdown Jesus. Leprechauns! The mere mention of Notre Dame football elicits memories of a program steeped in tradition.

And given the Irish’s storied history which has evolved during the past century - making the school the embodiment of college football for millions of Americans - winning in South Bend today [Nov. 21] would be an historic moment for UConn and Connecticut fans.

While admitting that a victory over the Fighting Irish would no doubt be huge for the school and for the fans, Coach Randy Edsall said the team is basically treating this like any other game on the schedule.

“We need a win,” he said.

“From the school’s standpoint, it probably means more to the school and the people associated with UConn football from the beginning. I don’t know if anybody ever thought that UConn football would have the opportunity to play such a storied program as Notre Dame,” Edsall said.

But “it really is just another game. It’s the 10th game this season,” a chance to get to .500, he said. “The field is still 120 by 53 and a third, it’s no different than the field that we play on.”

‘Touchdown Jesus’

Well, just a wee bit, Coach. For one thing Rentschler Field has no “Touchdown Jesus” peering over the grandstand, the larger-than-life painting that adorns the Notre Dame library.

Lo and begorrah, the East Hartford stadium doesn’t boast wee little leprechauns roaming the sidelines.

And the South Bend facility seats more than twice as many as the 40,000 capacity of UConn’s home field.

For the young men from Connecticut, the size of Saturday’s crowd will dwarf any they’ve ever played in front of.

Nevermind ‘Luck of the Irish’

Sophomore running back Jordan Todman said the unfriendly confines and the opponent’s national reputation won’t change the way he approaches the game.

“You get on the field and you’re not going to say ‘this guy’s really good’ or ‘this guy did this or that’,” Todman said. “You just go out there and play your game, execute the game plan.”

Junior fullback Anthony Sherman said even though he grew up watching Notre Dame on TV, he’s not going to buy into that “Luck of the Irish” potion they like to sell in South Bend.

“If you really look at it, they’re just another team on our schedule,” Sherman said. “At the beginning of the season, we thought we could beat every team we were going to play and we still feel that way.”

So maybe the huge, hostile crowd won’t affect the Huskies nor will the fact that quarterback Jimmy Clausen more often than not has “Heisman Trophy candidate” preceding his name.

“The Gipper”

But surely the UConn players will be intimidated by the history that saturates Notre Dame football.

When asked what he knew about legendary coach Knute Rockne, Sherman said he had never heard of him, nor had linebacker Scott Lutrus.

Quizzing the two about more Irish trivia, Sherm knew the Four Horsemen referred to a backfield, although he didn’t know the description was coined by legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice.

They didn’t even recognize the name of Heismann Trophy winner Paul Hornung, a key player on those great Green Bay teams coached by Vince Lombardi. In the 1950s, Hornung was the “golden boy” of this school with the golden dome long before Golden Tate was even born.

Both had heard of Rudy, the football walk-on made famous by the movie named after him; and they knew of “Touchdown Jesus,” Scott earning style points for his answer as he raised both arms high in the TD signal to demonstrate the pose struck by the Christ figure which looms over the stadium.

Neither UConn player could say who “The Gipper” was, but Sherm did venture something to the effect of, didn’t he play tailback for the Bears?

Both listened attentively when it was explained to them that “The Gipper” had been memorialized in a movie starring Ronald Reagan as George Gipp, who earned All-American honors while playing at Notre Dame but was cut down by a fatal disease in 1920 at the age of 25.

The story goes that Gipp told Rockne if the coach found himself in a tough game to “win one for the Gipper.” Legend has it that in 1928, Rockne cashed in that chip from Gipp to fire up his troops who were tied at halftime against top-ranked Army, exhorting the Irish to go back out on the field and “win one for the Gipper.” Which they did!

So maybe, just maybe, if the Huskies find themselves down at halftime Saturday, Coach Edsall might gather his squad in what he has described as the cramped quarters of the visiting locker room and maybe, just maybe, he might speak of another talented football player taken away too soon, young Jasper Howard.

And maybe Coach Edsall might exhort his team to go back out there in the second half at Notre Dame Stadium and win one for the Jazz-per.

Posted Nov. 21, 2009