Shenanigans How old is the Notre Dame - Michigan rivalry? Well, when Notre Dame played its first three intercollegiate football games between November 1887 and April 1888, Army had yet to play Navy and the following schools had yet to take up the sport: Ohio State, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Florida State, Florida, Miami, Alabama, Auburn, Texas, Texas A&M, Georgia, Georgia Tech, USC and UCLA. One reason Detroit Free Press writer E.A. Batchelor may have embraced the term “Fighting Irishmen” in his account of Notre Dame’s win over Michigan in 1909 is this: At halftime, as the Notre Dame players rested on the field, newspaper writers and photographers evidently overheard one ND player stand up and plead: “What’s the matter with you guys? You’re all Irish and you’re not fighting worth a lick.” In Notre Dame’s second-ever intercolligiate game, Michigan rolls to a 26-0 lead in front of more that 300 locals at Green Stocking Park in South Bend, Indiana. In the second half, however, Notre Dame halfback Harry Jewett scores the first touchdown in ND history on a dazzling run. A national-class sprinter, Jewett weaves his way through nearly the entire Michigan team. Ed Prudhomme then kicks the first extra point in Notre Dame history, as the Wolverines see their four-years string of shutting out the opposition slashed in a 26-6 victory. To read previous versions of Shenanigans click below: September
1998 |