How this Notre Dame team could finally end program’s painful 31-year major bowl losing skid

NEW ORLEANS – About three inches in diameter, the blue metal button is still safely preserved in Marc Edwards’ home in Jacksonville, the prized item only unearthed for special occasions.

Scrawled around the edges of his face are four words, all in capital letters: NOTRE DAME NATIONAL CHAMPIONS. In the center is a green shamrock adorned with the school logo: NORTH DAKOTA — and one year: 1993.

Notre Dame didn’t win the national title in 1993. But the Irish came close enough that then-coach Lou Holtz distributed the brass buttons to players after a Cotton Bowl victory that they believed would result, at the very least, in a split national championship with Florida State. The next day, the Seminoles finished No. 1 in the AP and Coaches’ Rankings despite losing to the Irish in the regular season.

“I’m still mad about it,” lamented Edwards, a freshman defenseman on that team.

The rewind button serves as a reminder not only of what nearly won it all, but of a baffling skid: That 1993 team was the last Notre Dame team to win a major bowl game.

“It’s not like the ’72 Dolphins, where they pop the champagne,” said Aaron Taylor, a CBS analyst and Notre Dame senior offensive lineman in 1993.

On Wednesday night at the Superdome in New Orleans, the Irish have another chance to end the streak. No. 7 seed Notre Dame (12-1) faces No. 2 Georgia (11-2) in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff hosted by the Sugar Bowl.

For many, the streak is quite incredible. It spans 31 years, 10 major bowl games, eight different opponents and six Notre Dame head coaches.

The last time Notre Dame won a major bowl, Mariah Carey topped the Billboard charts and Steve Young won his third NFL passing title. No player on the current Notre Dame team came even remotely close to being born. In fact, two players on the current team have fathers who were members of that 1993 team: freshman defensive lineman Bryce Young, son of former Irish defensive lineman Bryant Young; and interim linebacker Tommy Powlus, son of current Notre Dame assistant athletic director and former Irish quarterback Ron Powlus.

Before leaving for New Orleans, the older young man informed the younger man of the streak.

“We talked about it,” Bryce Young said Monday during Sugar Bowl media day. “It’s crazy how much time has passed.”

For a program of Notre Dame’s stature, it seems unfathomable to go this long without a major victory.

The streak covers the 1995 Orange Bowl, 2006 Sugar Bowl, 2018 Cotton Bowl and 2020 Rose Bowl, as well as the 2012 BCS national championship game and a whopping five Fiesta Bowl losses. The last of those five came in 2021, Marcus Freeman’s first game as head coach, when the Irish blew a 21-point lead in a two-point loss to Oklahoma State.

The most worrying part for ND faithful? All but two of the 10 games were lopsided. The loss margin is an average of 19 points.

However, the competition has not been easy. Five of the last six losses have come against an SEC power, Clemson or Ohio State.

The next step? Oh, you know, just the SEC champion Georgia Bulldogs, who have won two titles in the last three years.

“Hopefully, times are changing and we can cement our roots as part of the country’s elite,” Taylor says. “That’s what this game is about for me. “It’s an opportunity to dispel any doubt that Notre Dame is a national power.”

For some, Notre Dame’s position as an elite in college football is in question. In this new era of athlete compensation, can Irish people continue to compete in a more professionalized and transactional world?

The school’s rigorous academic standards and infrequent transfers can make it more difficult. Perhaps the program can continue to put together 10-win seasons, but its postseason failures to beat blue blood programs call into question its standing in the college football hierarchy.

The Irish remain perhaps the most polarizing program in the country. The school’s brand and logo are routinely ranked among the most valuable in all of college athletics. The school, the only major independent football program, exists on an island, with its own lucrative television deal with NBC and a multimillion-dollar apparel partnership with Under Armor.

As an example of Notre Dame’s power within the sport, it is the only school with a seat on the College Football Playoff board of directors as one of 11 voting members. The other 10 are representatives from each FBS conference.

The school seems to be adapting very well to the new world.

A story published by Sportico earlier this month revealed that the Irish collective, Friends of the University of Notre Dame, generated $20.5 million in revenue last year. New athletic director Pete Bevacqua has made it clear in public comments that the school will fully participate in the impending revenue-sharing concept, with the majority of funds going to football.

The school is also in the process of building a 150,000-square-foot, multi-million-dollar football facility.

It’s all an effort to remain among the country’s elite as the industry’s only independent. Only one thing is missing: big postseason victories.

Most Notre Dame stakeholders believe the 31-year streak can be explained with a single word: talent.

“You’d be lying to yourself if you didn’t look at the academic standards there and say that doesn’t have any impact,” said former Irish quarterback Brady Quinn, now a Fox analyst. “The quality of student-athlete you’re getting isn’t It’s the same as anywhere else.”

Quinn was a part of two of those 10 major bowl losses.

LSU and Ohio State outscored Notre Dame a combined 75-34 in the Sugar and Fiesta bowls in back-to-back seasons under coach Charlie Weis. Before those games, Quinn remembers conversations with Weiss about having to overcome those opponents.

“We knew we couldn’t stop them,” he said. “Now, what Marcus has done with the defense is we have one of the best groups in college football. “That wasn’t the case back then.”

Freeman, 38, a defensive coordinator turned head coach, has closed the talent gap with his recruiting, Taylor and Quinn contend. Notre Dame’s defense is ranked in the top 10 in yards and touchdowns for the second straight year under the leadership of Freeman and coordinator Al Golden.

Filled with pro prospects and All-Americans, the Irish defensive line resembles that of other major leagues. They’re bigger, faster, and stronger than Taylor can remember.

That has been the missing piece. On the field before the team’s game against Alabama in the 2012 BCS national championship, he remembers the disparity between the two clubs.

“When Notre Dame was walking through the tunnel and passed Alabama, I think we all thought, ‘Oh, shit!’” Taylor said.

Notre Dame’s notoriously rigid admissions process (with both high school and transfer prospects) is a long-standing problem. Former head coach Brian Kelly shed light on this when he left for LSU three years ago. He became the first Notre Dame coach in 100 years to voluntarily leave South Bend for another college head coaching position.

“Part of the appeal of the (LSU) job is that there are a lot more paths to (winning a national championship),” Kelly said in 2022. “There aren’t that many paths at Notre Dame.”

Exhibit A: In a world of frenetic player movement, Notre Dame accepts limited transfers who haven’t graduated from their previous school. The school has signed only one undergraduate transfer in three years.

“We’re bringing in rentals and others are bringing in people who can be a part of the program for multiple years,” Edwards says. “We needed to broaden our horizons a little to keep up with this era.”

However, progress is being made. Without lowering its standards, the university is expected to embrace more transfer moves. And transfers may not be the answer, Taylor says. Take, for example, Kelly’s current team: LSU is 8-4 in its third season and playing in the Texas Bowl, while the Irish are in the playoffs in Louisiana.

“Things are going very well for you now in Baton Rouge, right?” Taylor laughs.

Perhaps this Notre Dame team also brings with it a good omen. Four Notre Dame coaches have won national titles in their third seasons: Holtz (1988), Dan Devine (1977), Ara Parseghian (1966) and Frank Leahy (1943). Freeman is in year 3.

During Monday’s media day, he downplayed the question about the big bowl losing streak. After all, he said, what is really considered a larger bowl?

Over the past three decades, the Irish have beaten many ranked teams, toppled those in the SEC and Big Ten, and qualified for the playoffs three times.

“I don’t believe much in a ‘major bowl,’” he said. “I believe in the opportunity to go out, compete and win with guys who prepare very well with you. And that is the mentality we must have.”

Meanwhile, back in Jacksonville, Edwards and his family will watch their Irish Wednesday night from their outdoor terrace with multiple flat-screen TVs. Maybe you’ll even brandish that blue button and wait the streak finally ends.

“I don’t think Georgia is the Georgia of the past, where they were completely dominant,” he said. “And Notre Dame is not the Notre of the past: we are not one step below the elite teams. “We are there with them.”