Throwback Thursday: Notre Dame Fighting Irish VS UCLA Bruins 2007

In keeping with the tradition of ugly wins over teams from Los Angeles, we arrive at one of the most infamous season in Notre Dame Fighting Irish football history... 2007.

I guess it’s really more of a coincidence because this week is the Blue-Gold game. I started thinking about that 2007 game the other day. It was an absolutely gorgeous day with an absolutely inept roster — and we didn’t even see it coming.

2007 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 20, UCLA Bruins 6

Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

The Irish were winless heading into this game. Wait... let me start over. NOTRE DAME WAS 0-5 HEADING INTO THIS GAME. It was so bad for Notre Dame that this game wasn’t even broadcasted regionally. It was trumped by the Purdue vs Ohio State game. Many Irish fans had to watch this game via the internet — which in 2007 wasn’t the easiest thing to do.

This was the game of Maurice Crum’s LIFE. He had 2 interceptions and 2 fumble recoveries. One of those fumbles was returned for a touchdown. It might have been the defensive performance of the decade. Most of this awesomeness was because the Bruins came into the game without its starting quarterback Patrick Cowan due to injury. Ben Olson was elevated to starter and kicked things off with the first fumble of the day via Tom Zbikowski.

Some short time after that, Olson got injured, and in came walk-on quarterback McCloud Bethel-Thompson. Things went from bad to shitstorm in a dumpster fire for the Bruins. Bethel-Thompson threw 4 interceptions and had a QB rating of “——” for the game.

Here are a few more lovely stats from the game:

• Jimmy Clausen threw for 84 yards, ran for -21 yards, and had a rushing TD.
• James Aldridge led Notre Dame in rushing that game with 52 yards and a 2.4 YPC average.
• Golden Tate caught one pass for 0 yards.
• Brandon Walker was 2/2 for FG’s with a 48 yarder.

It was a brutal game, and it all started on a very warm and sunny Blue-Gold game. Enjoy!