The 12-Year War: When Penn State vs. Notre Dame Was the World

[heckmans]

Interesting read. I came of age for PSU football in the middle of this, but was too young to really understand the context. My earliest memories of PSU included an intense rivalry with ND and Lou Holtz.

The 12-Year War: When Penn State vs. Notre Dame Was the World

Penn State vs. Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl national semifinal game… the words alone send chills along the spine of any college football fan. But for

www.statecollege.com

 

[ryoder1]

Interesting read. I came of age for PSU football in the middle of this, but was too young to really understand the context. My earliest memories of PSU included an intense rivalry with ND and Lou Holtz.

The 12-Year War: When Penn State vs. Notre Dame Was the World

Penn State vs. Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl national semifinal game… the words alone send chills along the spine of any college football fan. But for

www.statecollege.com

This is a great article. Thank you for sharing. The story about Joe and the ND band is classic!

 

[PSUPride1]

Interesting read. I came of age for PSU football in the middle of this, but was too young to really understand the context. My earliest memories of PSU included an intense rivalry with ND and Lou Holtz.

The 12-Year War: When Penn State vs. Notre Dame Was the World

Penn State vs. Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl national semifinal game… the words alone send chills along the spine of any college football fan. But for

www.statecollege.com

Those were great years.

 

[The Spin Meister]

Indeed a great article. Lots of behind the scenes stories. Like I didn’t know the long snapper on the game winning field goal was a team manager handing out water bottles and jerseys just a few weeks earlier.

 

[mhlarch]

Yes thanks! Great article.

I was privileged to attend the 1981 and 1883 game as a student - 1981 game was super exciting! Not many nationally televised games in that era so lot's of buzz on campus. I can remember that one like it was yesterday, but for some reason I have very little recall of the 1983 game.

 

[bcspsu]

Yes thanks! Great article.

I was privileged to attend the 1981 and 1883 game as a student - 1981 game was super exciting! Not many nationally televised games in that era so lot's of buzz on campus. I can remember that one like it was yesterday, but for some reason I have very little recall of the 1983 game.

Among several other games, I attended the famous 1992 Snow Bowl game with my high school best friend who was an avid ND fan; his nephew eventually would be a walk on qb there. Anyway, other than the result, it was a great experience. We walked past Paul Horning on the Friday before the game, attended the Friday night pep rally in which Sean Astin spoke because Rudy was being filmed then, then got to say hi to Dick Vitale when we went to their Alumni Club before the game.

 

[PSUQBKeeper]

great article!

 

[The Song Remains the Same]

Interesting read. I came of age for PSU football in the middle of this, but was too young to really understand the context. My earliest memories of PSU included an intense rivalry with ND and Lou Holtz.

The 12-Year War: When Penn State vs. Notre Dame Was the World

Penn State vs. Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl national semifinal game… the words alone send chills along the spine of any college football fan. But for

www.statecollege.com

THANKS SO MUCH FOR POSTING! i attended most of these games while living in AZ.. The 1987 coldest game ever sat with 2 buddies a few rows behind ND bench, we squeezed 3 of us into 2 seats, heavy parkas and all, helped mitigate the cold....Had a great view of Harrisburg's Ricky Watters deliberately kicking Trey Bauer in helmet on an out of bounds play... (side note in 1987 Father-in-law, a devout Catholic and lifelong ND fan whose son was in ND band, flew to State College from AZ for the game but didn't bring suitable clothing and stayed in hotel, watching game on TV. He had no idea that I also flew in from AZ and was shocked and pissed when he found out when back in AZ) in 1996 we rented an RV for the away game at South Bend. Upon entering the parking lot, the lot attendant was shocked, saying "I've never seen this many RV's in my life". We smiled and said visit Happy Valley some day...The 1997 Derrick Williams 78 yard punt return TD arguably must rank top 5 loudest crowd moment at Beaver, perhaps along with Tamba Hali decleating Heisman Troy Smith/OSU, saving the game, Grant Haley's blocked FG TD return vs. OSU, Rich Gardner's pick 6 vs. Nebraska, not sure which other play ranks Top 5...

 

[Football79Dude]

As annual opponents, Notre Dame and Alabama > Ohio State and Michigan.

Too bad we had to join the Big Ten and get jobbed by that conference until their two golden boys could overtake us (sort of). Notre Dame, at least, had the resources to avoid that trap.

Alas, there are reasons for both PSU and ND to hope that they may once again return to football supremacy in the North. The possible coming of one national superconference would free us from our B1G shackles and also integrate Notre Dame, making them no longer outsiders to the main stories of the football season. The cultures these two programs have built up make them relatively immune to transfer portal raids. Finally, NIL allows these well supported schools to give the resources to their players that less scrupulous schools have been providing for years under the table.

 

[The Song Remains the Same]

As annual opponents, Notre Dame and Alabama > Ohio State and Michigan.

Too bad we had to join the Big Ten and get jobbed by that conference until their two golden boys could overtake us (sort of). Notre Dame, at least, had the resources to avoid that trap.

Alas, there are reasons for both PSU and ND to hope that they may once again return to football supremacy in the North. The possible coming of one national superconference would free us from our B1G shackles and also integrate Notre Dame, making them no longer outsiders to the main stories of the football season. The cultures these two programs have built up make them relatively immune to transfer portal raids. Finally, NIL allows these well supported schools to give the resources to their players that less scrupulous schools have been providing for years under the table.

Very well stated!

 

[4IUSox2]

Great story. I recall many of those great games growing up near Chicago. Attended the ‘82 game as a high schooler as my parents even let me drive myself to visit my sisters, who were at St Mary’s. Met my future ND BIL’s that day. That one was also a cold late afternoon game on ABC. Not mentioned in the story was this was the weekend after ND had just upset #1 ranked Pitt at Pitt Stadium, led by true frosh, Allen Pinkett. ND already had a loss and a tie, so felt they could get back into title conversation with a win. ND led early. Blair Kiel at QB, got hurt. Faust had to bring in his back-up, Ken Karcher, who’d been his qb at Moeller a few years before. Walker Lee Ashley and Todd Blackledge had big days for the Lions. In what become a five year tradition, Faust’s ND teams went onto lose the following 2 weeks as well, to Air Force and USC, to close out the season at 6-4-1, after being 6-1-1 after the Pitt game.

Great stroll down memory lane.

 

[OKLionFan]

There’s a tremendous amount of perspective in that article. The talent levels of those teams especially ND was stunning. Does anyone remember Ray Scott who did the PbP on the weekly show. Oh what I’d give to have one of him around today. In my book, he was the gold standard.

 

[WaylonJ]

As a coal region kid, everybody was either a Notre Dame or a Penn State fan. The ball busting and sometimes outright hostility went on year round and came up in any conversation. I was hoping we'd get ND just for the nostalgia. Coldest game to this day I remember being at was 1987 in Beaver. We won 21-20. If memory serves they went for 2 and the end and didn't get it, but I could be wrong about that, maybe they missed the pat. These were the great years of tradition building.

EDIT: OK, I read the article, they stopped the 2.

 

[Jerry]

Interesting read. I came of age for PSU football in the middle of this, but was too young to really understand the context. My earliest memories of PSU included an intense rivalry with ND and Lou Holtz.

The 12-Year War: When Penn State vs. Notre Dame Was the World

Penn State vs. Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl national semifinal game… the words alone send chills along the spine of any college football fan. But for

www.statecollege.com

Great article and definitely brings back some good memories. In fact, I remember that 1986 game like it was yesterday: Notre Dame driving late with our perfect season and a shot at the national championship on the line. I think I lost some years off my life sweating that game out.

I also identify with this paragraph from the piece:

>>At the time, Pennsylvania was the most Catholic state in the country. There were two main college football allegiances: Penn State and Notre Dame. Irish Catholics skewed toward ND with Italians skewing toward PSU. This was particularly pronounced in Northeastern Pennsylvania, as anyone living up there will see in the next few days.<<

I mentioned this in another thread recently. As an Irish Catholic growing up in NEPA, I adopted Notre Dame as my "second" team in those days though my first allegiance was always Penn State as my Dad went to school there and was a huge fan of Penn State...so I grew up with that in my blood. It's never changed.

Looking forward to a great game this week...a real trip down Memory Lane.

 

[Parkland Fan]

THANKS SO MUCH FOR POSTING! i attended most of these games while living in AZ.. The 1987 coldest game ever sat with 2 buddies a few rows behind ND bench, we squeezed 3 of us into 2 seats, heavy parkas and all, helped mitigate the cold....Had a great view of Harrisburg's Ricky Watters deliberately kicking Trey Bauer in helmet on an out of bounds play... (side note in 1987 Father-in-law, a devout Catholic and lifelong ND fan whose son was in ND band, flew to State College from AZ for the game but didn't bring suitable clothing and stayed in hotel, watching game on TV. He had no idea that I also flew in from AZ and was shocked and pissed when he found out when back in AZ) in 1996 we rented an RV for the away game at South Bend. Upon entering the parking lot, the lot attendant was shocked, saying "I've never seen this many RV's in my life". We smiled and said visit Happy Valley some day...The 1997 Derrick Williams 78 yard punt return TD arguably must rank top 5 loudest crowd moment at Beaver, perhaps along with Tamba Hali decleating Heisman Troy Smith/OSU, saving the game, Grant Haley's blocked FG TD return vs. OSU, Rich Gardner's pick 6 vs. Nebraska, not sure which other play ranks Top 5...

I also attended the 1987 game. I am 76 years old and have lived in PA all my life, but I have never been as cold as I was that day in Section EG in Beaver Stadium. We jogged in place during half time to thaw out our feet.

 

[Zouavelion5]

I also attended the 1987 game. I am 76 years old and have lived in PA all my life, but I have never been as cold as I was that day in Section EG in Beaver Stadium. We jogged in place during half time to thaw out our feet.

In 87 you could leave the stadium st halftime and reenter. We went to the car and defrosted through the third and returned for the 4th. Tony Rice was stopped on the 2 point conversion try right in front of us.

 

[Kasparaitis]

In 87 you could leave the stadium st halftime and reenter. We went to the car and defrosted through the third and returned for the 4th. Tony Rice was stopped on the 2 point conversion try right in front of us.

The good old days!

 

[PennSt8er]

I stood in the student section the entire frozen game where we defeated then-#1-ranked ND. What a game. I am still thawing out my toes from that experience.

 

[EPC FAN]

Interesting read. I came of age for PSU football in the middle of this, but was too young to really understand the context. My earliest memories of PSU included an intense rivalry with ND and Lou Holtz.

The 12-Year War: When Penn State vs. Notre Dame Was the World

Penn State vs. Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl national semifinal game… the words alone send chills along the spine of any college football fan. But for

www.statecollege.com

I went to all 12 games. Fun series.

 

[WaylonJ]

I stood in the student section the entire frozen game where we defeated then-#1-ranked ND. What a game. I am still thawing out my toes from that experience.

Maybe we had communion that day. Somebody had a bottle of God Knows What in a boot. I was a student too, we were slamming whatever concoction to keep warm, literally drinking out of an old boot. I was up pretty high in the SE corner (probably would have been the Jr section then).

 

[The Spin Meister]

Great article and definitely brings back some good memories. In fact, I remember that 1986 game like it was yesterday: Notre Dame driving late with our perfect season and a shot at the national championship on the line. I think I lost some years off my life sweating that game out.

I also identify with this paragraph from the piece:

>>At the time, Pennsylvania was the most Catholic state in the country. There were two main college football allegiances: Penn State and Notre Dame. Irish Catholics skewed toward ND with Italians skewing toward PSU. This was particularly pronounced in Northeastern Pennsylvania, as anyone living up there will see in the next few days.<<

I mentioned this in another thread recently. As an Irish Catholic growing up in NEPA, I adopted Notre Dame as my "second" team in those days though my first allegiance was always Penn State as my Dad went to school there and was a huge fan of Penn State...so I grew up with that in my blood. It's never changed.

Looking forward to a great game this week...a real trip down Memory Lane.

I rarely watch pregame on network as it’s mostly garbage and hype. But hoping they spend considerable time showing all those great battles over the years. They could do an entire hour and that would jusy be a small slice of that delicious pie!😻

 

[harbest]

Interesting read. I came of age for PSU football in the middle of this, but was too young to really understand the context. My earliest memories of PSU included an intense rivalry with ND and Lou Holtz.

The 12-Year War: When Penn State vs. Notre Dame Was the World

Penn State vs. Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl national semifinal game… the words alone send chills along the spine of any college football fan. But for

www.statecollege.com

I was at the 92 game in South Bend thanks to my father in law. He was a season ticket holder and went to several away games. He told me on one trip out there, he became an instant celebrity at the bar he went to when he told them he came from the same high school The Rocket went to. Another trip, he took a good friend of his who was a big ND fan. He told me they were walking to the game and passed the Grotto where they light and leave candles. His friend told him "your standing on Holy ground" He said it was all he could do to not laugh in his face!

 

[africamurphy]

Great article. Thanks for sharing. I went back and read my chapter on the 1990 game. So epic! Hope we can add to the lore (on our side!) Thursday night… 🙏🏼 https://a.co/d/3feFr0R

 

[IANit]

Interesting read. I came of age for PSU football in the middle of this, but was too young to really understand the context. My earliest memories of PSU included an intense rivalry with ND and Lou Holtz.

The 12-Year War: When Penn State vs. Notre Dame Was the World

Penn State vs. Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl national semifinal game… the words alone send chills along the spine of any college football fan. But for

www.statecollege.com

The only thing missing was the 1991 game. I hate Notre Dame. It's dissipated somewhat. But both Notre Dame and Pitt during its short run were screwing us over behind the scenes. We as a 1 loss team got relegated to the Fiesta in 1977 when it was on Christmas Day despite beating Pitt, which went to the Gator Bowl. They had apparently convinced the bowl committee they would beat us. In 1991 we were 8-2 as was ND. Rick Mirer was getting all the hype in the world and Notre Dame had locked up a Sugar Bowl bid even though bowl bids weren't supposed to be issued until the next day We were once again looking at a possible Fiesta invite, still not as prestigious at that time, though at least on Jan. 1. We destroyed ND 35-13 at home in front of the Sugar Bowl reps. One of my favorite moments watching games as a student. We went on to go 11-2 and finish #3 after beating Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl, 42-17.

 

[ryoder1]

The only thing missing was the 1991 game. I hate Notre Dame. It's dissipated somewhat. But both Notre Dame and Pitt during its short run were screwing us over behind the scenes. We as a 1 loss team got relegated to the Fiesta in 1977 when it was on Christmas Day despite beating Pitt, which went to the Gator Bowl. They had apparently convinced the bowl committee they would beat us. In 1991 we were 8-2 as was ND. Rick Mirer was getting all the hype in the world and Notre Dame had locked up a Sugar Bowl bid even though bowl bids weren't supposed to be issued until the next day We were once again looking at a possible Fiesta invite, still not as prestigious at that time, though at least on Jan. 1. We destroyed ND 35-13 at home in front of the Sugar Bowl reps. One of my favorite moments watching games as a student. We went on to go 11-2 and finish #3 after beating Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl, 42-17.

Against Tenn we were behind like 17-10 or something midway through the 3rd or maybe even later then just curb stomped them the last 20 minutes. Classic JoePa bowl win.

 

[creamery freak]

I rarely watch pregame on network as it’s mostly garbage and hype. But hoping they spend considerable time showing all those great battles over the years. They could do an entire hour and that would jusy be a small slice of that delicious pie!😻

They'll never show it because it shines a positive light on PSU when Paterno was their coach. All the Syracuse grads working for Evilspin are not going to let it happen. History be damned by the woke!

 

[indynittany]

Be glad I won't be in Miami on Thursday. My two visits to South Bend ('84 & '06) did not end well. The 1984 game was the coldest game I remember sitting through. Mark Bavaro went all Tyler Warren on us.

Good article! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ski]

Against Tenn we were behind like 17-10 or something midway through the 3rd or maybe even later then just curb stomped them the last 20 minutes. Classic JoePa bowl win.

That was a great finish to that TN game. I remember loathing the song Rocky Top the whole first half and by the end of the game I was singing Rocky Top myself every time PSU scored.

 

[IANit]

This is a great article. Thank you for sharing. The story about Joe and the ND band is classic!

Kind of awesome that John Robinson called Joe to let him know about ND's intimidation tactics in the tunnel. And that would have been not long after Penn State shut down Marcus Allen and USC in the 1982 Fiesta Bowl. Paterno had no love lost for Notre Dame. Apparently Robinson didn't, either.

 

[creamery freak]

Kind of awesome that John Robinson called Joe to let him know about ND's intimidation tactics in the tunnel. And that would have been not long after Penn State shut down Marcus Allen and USC in the 1982 Fiesta Bowl. Paterno had no love lost for Notre Dame. Apparently Robinson didn't, either.

I remember hearing of some very questionable recruiting tactics ND used against PSU, during that time period. Probably why Joe had no love lost for ND.

 

[harbest]

The only thing missing was the 1991 game. I hate Notre Dame. It's dissipated somewhat. But both Notre Dame and Pitt during its short run were screwing us over behind the scenes. We as a 1 loss team got relegated to the Fiesta in 1977 when it was on Christmas Day despite beating Pitt, which went to the Gator Bowl. They had apparently convinced the bowl committee they would beat us. In 1991 we were 8-2 as was ND. Rick Mirer was getting all the hype in the world and Notre Dame had locked up a Sugar Bowl bid even though bowl bids weren't supposed to be issued until the next day We were once again looking at a possible Fiesta invite, still not as prestigious at that time, though at least on Jan. 1. We destroyed ND 35-13 at home in front of the Sugar Bowl reps. One of my favorite moments watching games as a student. We went on to go 11-2 and finish #3 after beating Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl, 42-17.

Remember at that time bowl bids usually went out before the last game.