Notre Dame Football: The Great Goaline Stands Of 2012
The Notre Dame defense put on a clinic during the 2012 season.
2012 was an incredible year for Notre Dame football. It was the first time since 1988 that Notre Dame went undefeated in the regular season, and the first time since 1993 that they had a legitimate shot at a National Championship. It was also the first time since 1993 that the Irish were ranked #1 in the country.
That season saw a lot of drama and if you want to bang on the whole Lenay thing… go ahead and be dweeb. 2012 was AWESOME and part of it being so great WAS that drama that we saw every week. The team fought insanely hard each week and flat out willed themselves to victory when defeat looked so possible.
Two specific things that resulted from this team that fought with a chip on its shoulder and with a blue-collar style that had been missing in South Bend were the goaline stands against Stanford and USC.
Stanford
The Stanford stand is one of the more controversial in recent memory. AND IT IS ONLY BECAUSE OTHER PEOPLE ARE RIDICULOUS AND STUPID. For real. Taylor never crossed the goaline and the whistle blew- that’s called game over. You can dispute that if you feel like being a troll. However… what really gasses my ass, is when people say that Stanford “would have won” if Taylor had scored.
Did they even pay attention to the score or the scoreboard? Even if he gets in- which did not and will not ever be the case, it would have only set Stanford up to tie with an extra point kick.
Sorry haters… this one was total monster mode.
USC
This stand didn’t have quite as much game dram as Stanford, but it had even more on the line as Notre Dame was trying to end the season undefeated and ranked number one for the first time since 1988.
USC was down 9 points and found itself knocking on the door, but a combination of brute strength by Notre Dame and Lane Kiffin being a horrible head coach, found the Notre Dame defense on the right side of yet another stand.
Despite the loss to Alabama in the title game, Notre Dame fans still swoon when they think about the defense in 2012. Te’o, Nix, Tuitt, Calabrese, Fox, Jackson, Russell, KLM, and others combined for a unit that was one of the best defenses in Notre Dame history, and it showed when it came down to the goaline.