Nothing is trivial when it comes to Notre Dame football

Unbuckling the mailbag:

Question: I'm a long-suffering Notre Dame fan and I've been trying to figure out the last time Notre Dame beat a top-10 team on the road at night?

Brian Clark

Answer: You've come to the right place. I majored in journalism but minored in "Trivial Fighting Irish Tidbits and Knute Rockne's favorite drive-ins, diners and dives."

I stayed up all day once to write a finals paper titled, "The day Notre Dame played at night."

Here is your Notre Dame nighttime answer: It was Oct. 8, 1983, a 30-6 victory at No. 7 South Carolina. The last time Notre Dame defeated a top 25 team at night, on the road, was No. 22 Purdue in 2005.

You might think this does not bode well for Notre Dame against No. 10 Michigan State on Saturday night?

Notre Dame is trying to get to 3-0 for the first time since 2002!

But know this: The Irish are 2-0 in night games played on Sept. 15.

Brian Kelly is 6-5 after sunset. Dan Devine was 5-0 at night. Lou Holtz was 20-5-1 after dark and Ara Parseghian was 10-2-1. And no, the tie wasn't that 10-10 epic against Michigan State in 1966.

Notre Dame played Miami to a scoreless tie in 1965.

Notre Dame's first night game was Oct. 5, 1951, a 40-6 win over Detroit at Briggs Stadium.

"Outlined against a ? wait a minute, I can't see a thing because of the glare!" ? Grantland Rice

Bob Davie had terrible night vision. He misled Notre Dame to nine straight night losses and reportedly asked whether the school would consider moving all night games to summer in Alaska.

Notre Dame is 6-8 in nighttime bowl games and 38-25-2 all time in nighttime road games.

Hope this helps. If not, I just wasted 45 minutes sifting through Notre Dame's game notes.

Good day ? and night.

Q: Two games and talking Heisman?

John Boxley

A: Talking, not awarding. I got dragged into the discussion this week when UCLA's Johnathan Franklin ripped off 217 yards against Nebraska and showed up tied for No. 8 in one straw Heisman poll conducted by a former USC assistant sports information director.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0915-college-football-mailbag-notre-dame-20120915,0,5590001.column?track=rss

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