notre dame fighting irish football

There were some great quotes from yesterday’s college football opener between Notre Dame and Purdue. Especially this exchange Coach Brian Kelly and a reporter that asked a fawning question that was doomed to fail.

A lot of people see you as the white knight coming in to say save the program. Is do you see yourself that way?

COACH KELLY: Oh, yeah, exactly. (Laughter) I couldn’t put it any better. (Laughter).
What is a white knight anyway? Look, I took on the challenge at Notre Dame, because I want to see this program back to where I believe it should be, and that’s amongst the elite of college football. We’ve got some work to do. We are not there yet, believe me. Trust me. But we took a step today and we are going to keep pounding at it and working at it.

With the 23-12 victory, ND is now 16-1 in their last 17 at home versus Purdue. This rivalry is now entering Missouri-Illinois territory. On to the videos.

We begin with the singing of “Notre Dame, Our Mother,” the school’s alma mater in the north end zone following the game. It truly shows what a close-knit team the Irish have. Notre Dame translates to “Our Mother” or “Holy Mother” as the all the Notre Dame schools were started as an homage to the Virgin Mary. But of all the Universities and high schools named for Jesus’ mommy, the one in South Bend is the first and also the biggest.

Next we have the most famous fight song in the world, except this is from the point of view on the field, the cheerleaders, the kilted Irish guard, the marching band, the whole deal.