Not too long ago, one of the best rivalries in all of college football was between the Penn State Nittany Lions and Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
While the two sides haven't faced each other regularly throughout college football history, they were regular opponents between 1976 and 1992. In those 13 matchups, the Nittany Lions held an 8-5 advantage in the rivalry.
After meeting 13 times between 1976 and 1992, the two legendary programs didn't meet again until 2006. That was a forgettable experience for Penn State.
The No. 19 Nittany Lions traveled to East Bend hoping to pull off an upset of the No. 4 Fighting Irish.
Instead, Joe Paterno's NIttany Lions found themselves down 20-0 at halftime and had no answer for star Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn who was 25-for-36, passing for 287 yards and three touchdowns.
An interesting note is that future MLB starter and one-time all-star Jeff Samardzija had six receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown for the Irish that day as well.
Penn State's offense wasn't too bad themselves with 383 total yards that day including 246 passing yards but three turnovers would ultimately be a major factor while the halftime deficit was too big to dig themselves out of.
One year later in Happy Valley. Penn State would get revenge.
The Nittany Lions came into that early September matchup in 2007 as the No. 14 team in the country and fresh off a 59-0 smashing of Florida International in week one. Notre Dame, on the other hand, dropped their season opener that season to Georgia Tech, 33-3.
While the matchup lost some of its allure heading into the week two matchups after Notre Dame's week one loss, it was still a raucous crowd in Happy Valley. In fact, It was the first full stadium White Out at Beaver Stadium.
Early, the game did not get off to the start that Penn State had hoped for as Anthony Morelli looking for Derrick Williams down the sideline would be intercepted by the Fighting Irish's Darrin Wells. Wells would return the interception for a 78-yard pick-six, silencing the 110,000 at Beaver Stadium.
That silence wouldn't last for long.
As the end of the first quarter neared, Derrick Williams would reenergize Beaver Stadium as he weaved his way through the Fighting Irish's punt team, returning a punt 78 yards for a touchdown. Sending the 110,000 into a frenzy.
After tying the game at 7-7, the Nittany Lions would never look back as they would take the lead in the second quarter at 14-7 thanks to a Jordan Norwood who was on the receiving end of a 10-yard touchdown pass from Anthony Morelli.
While the Fighting Irish found themselves trailing 17-10 in the third quarter, the Nittany Lions rushing attack that totaled 164 yards that day would wear down Notre Dame's defense.
The Nittany Lions ran for 164 yards against the Irish including 116 from Austin Scott on 28 carries. Scott helped seal the win over the Irish with a pair of late-game rushing touchdowns.
Defensively, Penn State was led by Dan Connor who was dominant with 12 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and one sack. The Nittany Lions' defense kept the freshman Jimmy Clausen to 17-of-32 that night for 144 yards while the Fighting Irish finished the game with zero rushing yards on 26 attempts.
Following the game, the Nittany Lions would win in week three over Buffalo before dropping back-to-back games against Michigan and Illinois. After their pair of losses, the Nittany Lions would recover to go 8-4 in the regular season and earn an Alamo Bowl game appearance against Texas A&M which they won 24-17.
The Irish, however, would spiral and lose each of their first five games before picking up a win over UCLA. They would lose four straight after their first win of the season before capping off the year with back-to-back wins over Duke and Stanford. Their 3-9 final record remains their worst season since 1960.
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