Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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The Greatest Month The Notre Dame football program had a special ride in November 1913 O By Lou Somogyi ne hundred years ago, Notre Dame experienced what might be classified as its most significant and greatest football month ever — November 1913. It shaped the blueprint of what the program would entail the next 100 years. Because Notre Dame was not granted league affiliation with the esteemed Western Conference (now the Big Ten), first-year head coach/ athletics director Jesse Harper had no choice in 1913 but to assemble a national schedule in an effort to make a name for the program. Five games were scheduled from Nov. 1-27, all on the road. Such ambition likely would be mocked as suicidal today. It began with the seminal 35-13 victory at Army Nov. 1. What is often overshadowed is the rest of that month that only heightened the dramatic upset. By Saturday evening after the Army game, the Notre Dame players were headed by train to Buffalo, N.Y., spent Sunday at Niagara Falls and didn't return back to campus until Monday. Once there, they attended classes and had only two days of practice before having to travel 520 railroad miles to State College, Pa., to play at Penn State on a Friday. The Nittany Lions were another first-time foe that had been 16-0-1 the previous two years and crushed Ohio State (which joined the Western Conference in 1913) on the road in 1912, 37-0, while outscoring its foes 285-6. Avoiding the tailor-made letdown, Notre Dame squeezed out a 14-7 victory in Happy Valley. The first "Catholics" score came with quarterback Gus Dorais accounting for all 80 yards, capped with a five-yard scoring pass to Knute Rockne. In the third quarter, fullback Ray Eichenlaub provided Notre Dame a two-touchdown cushion, and from there it staved off the upset bid. Notre Dame was scheduled to meet in-state Wabash College the following week, but heavy snowfall led Wabash to cancel the game, which Notre Dame found to be a blessing. Wrote Frank Maggio in his 2007 book Notre Dame And The Game That