Joe Montana Rises to Stardom at Notre Dame

The game that most people will look back on as the moment where Joe Montana began to shine as a Notre Dame quarterback was a high-profile match up against the Purdue Boliermakers in the fall of 1977. After Notre Dame’s head coach Dan Devine had sent in three other QBs to try to get an offense going, he gave Joe Montana the nod with 11 minutes remaining. The Fighting Irish were down 24-14, but by the time the final whistle blew, the Irish had won 31-24.

After that game, Montana was considered a hero. He would end up starting every game for the Irish for the rest of the season. Eventually Notre Dame earned a spot in the Cotton Bowl, where they were to play the heavily favored Texas Longhorns. If you would have gotten Notre Dame Fighting Irish tickets to that game, you would have seen Joe Montana break down the Longhorn defense with his precision passing and cool-headed decision making. The Irish ended up blowing out the Longhorns 38-10. If only StubHub.com could sell tickets to games in the past, it would be a great game for Notre Dame fans to get tickets for. Of course, there’s the whole time machine thing that we still have to work out…

Permalink - Posted in General on May 22, 2007 - Post a comment