PTSD ...

PTSD ...
by CJC (2014-11-20 07:12:38)

In reply to: Just for fun -- shooting for the top ... posted by CJC

The seeming onslaught of horrific losses since Holtz left had me convinced that Notre Dame had lost a lot of games to teams with losing records.

So I decided to check it out. And when I learned that Brennan only lost twice to teams with losing records (both in the 2-8 Hornung Heisman season of 1956), I was certain that would compare favorably with some of our more recent heroes.

Not exactly. Here you go ....

Brennan (2) -- SMU and Purdue in '56

Ara (1) -- Purdue, in his final season, 1974

Devine (2) -- Georgia Tech in '76 and Ole Miss in the '77 national championship seasosn

Faust (3) -- Purdue in '81, MSU in '83 and Purdue in '85 -- hey, Gerry wins the prize!

Holtz (1) -- Stanford in '90

Davie (3) -- Stanford in '97, Pitt in '99 and MSU in '00 -- keeping up with Gerry

Tyrone (1) -- BYU in '04 -- I knew we didn't give this guy enough time!

Chuckles (3) -- MSU in '05, Syracuse in '08 (that should count for two, at least) and Michigan in '09 (that should count for 10)

Kelly (1) -- USF in '11

I looked at those losses back in 2008

and determined that Syracuse '08 was the worst team ever to beat ND in football. SU finished 3-9, and was 1-9 against FBS teams other than ND. (The win came against Louisville, who was 4-7 vs. FBS teams that year.)

This year's Northwestern team is 4-6, but was just 2-6 vs. FBS teams before upsetting ND. NU could scrape their way back to .500, but they're a 1-point underdog at Purdue this week.

Mildly interesting note on 2007 ....

We played nine teams with winning records and lost them all.

We played three teams with losing records and won them all.

Somehow, that seems appropriate.