#6 Notre Dame

South Bend, IN

Notre Dame Stadium November 3, 2012 Notre Dame 29 – Pittsburgh 26 (3OT) (ESPN Recap)

The first ever “business school annual trip” featuring Stephen, Evan, Borna, Simon, Laura, Rob, and Christine (ND Alum). Thought we were going to see the undefeated 8-0 Fighting Irish with BCS title aspirations take care of business against a 4-4 Pitt team. What we saw was the best live sporting event I have ever been to. ND was down 14 at the start of Q4, scored a TD but missed the XP, and then with two 4th down conversions on the drive (one by a questionable DPI), ND scored with 2 mins left and Everett Golson kept it for the 2pt conversion to force OT. The overtimes were whacky and ND survived in 3OT thanks to back to back missed FGs by Pitt’s kicker.

This was a GDH game in year 1 of the fund so I was a bit stressed with the thought about how much money I would lose if Pitt won the game. Evan kept asking me two questions: 1) How much would you be willing to pay to guarantee overtime? 2) How much would you be willing to pay as a non-recoverable penalty to buy out of the bet like it didn’t happen?

Great questions. I also got to experience the first time feeling dirty after a near GDH loss that turned into a win, because then you not only recover the risk capital you never thought was at risk, but also win the ML bet.

On the 4th quarter drive with under 5 mins left, there were a lot of ND fans literally praying for Everett Golson to march the team down the field. One man had the quote of the game which was “C’mon Everett! This is how you become a legend in South Bend. Win this game and people will name their kids Everett after you!”

The hype was also on Heisman hopeful Manti Te’o, LB at ND who intercepted a pass in the game. [EDIT: this was before the fake girlfriend news had come out]. The Notre Dame defense had a few other big boys who were good in Stephon Tuitt and Louis Nix III. On offense, Theo Riddick and Tyler Eifert to support Golson.

It was fun to be at such an iconic stadium, one that I have watched on NBC dozens of times. Touchdown Jesus is cool and I am jealous of their “Play Like a Champion” branding on everything on campus and in the book store. Growing up a BC fan, I was not too psyched to be there and generally dislike all things Notre Dame. The tailgate was really cold and I was underdressed.

Lots of beer pong, pop-a-shot, and cornhole played on the trip (thanks Finnegans). The photos do it justice. Also made it to “The Backer” bar which was cool.