My dad is a Notre Dame alumni and actually went to a couple of these games. He really enjoys reliving those times of his college days. It's also interesting to watch football before the days of the "Yellow Line" and seemingly endless camera angles.
Anyway, my dad tends to watch these when he's flying to and from job sites or in a hotel room without an internet connection. I got them for him about 3 months ago as a Christmas present and he just finished the entire set.
I always enjoyed hearing his stories of these games, so it's really nice being able to give something back that means just as much to him. University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Collector's Edition (College Football's Greatest Games)
I bought this for my brother in law for Xmas, and it's definitely the most successful present I've ever given him. He particularly commented on the clarity of pictures for each game ("like being there") and loved that it was the whole game, not just the highlights. A winner for die hard fans out there!
It is a great service to fans that the powers-that-be decided to offer this amazing box set. Some fans, if they're old enough, have only seen some of these games once when they were originally broadcast live. Even if you've caught the "chicken soup game" on ESPN Classic, now you can see it in its entirety and commercial-free. And of course there's the legendary "green jersey game" which probably had the most fanfare and energy of any regular season college football game in history.
From the Lou Holtz era, the two exciting defeats of Miami and Florida State remain at the top of the Fighting Irish's greatest games ever (my only beef with the FSU game is that the great intro by Bob Costas is not included).
In addition to the entire games, many DVDs have extras such as recorded radio broadcasts and pre- and post-game interviews. Easy navigation with chapter indexes placed at the start of scoring drives.
I hope there are plans to make a second boxed set. I myself would love to see the 1973 Sugar Bowl against Alabama, the 1991 Sugar Bowl against Florida, the 1982 game against Pitt, and even some old black & white filmed games such as the 1957 Oklahoma upset.
My brother in law got this for Christmas and we watched a few games. No commercials to skip thru, the original broadcasts are great. A good deal for a handful of big games in recent ND football history. The rosters for each game are a nice feature. A very good buy.
This is a very well done set of actual game broadcasts of some of the greatest Notre Dame games ever, of course concentrating more on the modern TV era. The cool thing is that I was at 3 of these games in person, the 1988 Miami game (Catholics vs Convicts) where ND knocked off #1 Miami, the 1989(88 season) Fiesta Bowl National Championship victory over #3 West Virginia, and the 1993 Game of the Decade vs Florida St, with #2 9-0 ND dominating #1 9-0 Florida St to prove without a doubt that Notre Dame was the best team in the nation in 1993. Aside from the 1966 Michigan St Game of the Century, I saw every other game in this set live on TV when it happened also, including the legendary "Green Jersey" game vs USC in 1977. Some sweet sweet memories. Its too bad they could not have also included some of the following games (or maybe get these in a Vol II?), but full broadcasts may not be available on some, such as:
---#6 Notre Dame over #1 10-0 Texas 24-11 in the 1970 season ending Cotton Bowl to deny Texas the national championship in their back yard.
---#2 10-0 Notre Dame over #1 10-0 Alabama 24-23 in the 1973 Sugar Bowl National Title game giving ND another undisputed national championship and denying Bama the national title in a game Bear Bryant had called "the most important game in the history of the South".
---#9 Notre Dame over #1 10-0 Alabama 13-11 in the 1974 season ending Orange Bowl to again deny Bear and Bama another national title in Ara Parseghian's last game.
---the epic 1980 game in Tuscaloosa between Bama and Notre Dame won by ND 7-0 with both teams vying for a national title and giving Bear Bryant an 0-4 lifetime record vs Notre Dame.
---the 1980 ND-Michigan game won 29-27 on a Harry Oliver 51 yd FG as time expired which prompted the Michigan student paper to headline their article Michigan 27 Notre Dame 26, God 3.
---the 1982 upset of Dan Marino and #1 Pittsburgh under Faust to ruin Marino's chance of a national championship.
---the huge 1988 ND-USC game at the Coliseum with #1 10-0 ND throttling #2 10-0 USC in the last regular season game of the national championship season 27-10.
---of course, any number of ND-Michigan games could also be included since the 1978 renewal of that rivalry has produced many classic games over the years.
The Montana bowl victories included in this set of course are priceless, especially the 1978 Cotton Bowl where #5 Notre Dame absolutely shellacked #1 10-0 Texas 38-10 to win the 1977 National Championship and of course deny Texas (and Earl Cambpell) yet another national title in their backyard. I love hearing the classic announcing of legends like Keith Jackson and Lindsey Nelson, and Musburger and USC alum Pat Haden do an outstanding job with that 1988 epic Miami game. Its too bad the whole film of the 1966 Michigan St game is not available, but its great to have the 2nd half. The number of future All Pros and Hall of Famers in that game is amazing, including Bubba Smith of Mich St and the legendary Alan Page of Notre Dame, future Viking HOF and now Minnesota Supreme Court Justice.
Simply put, get this set and Notre Dame could make 10 more of these sets and it would only scratch the surface of the greatest college football program of all time.
I am surprised Notre Dame is just sitting on the highlight films of those classic 1970s bowl games like the Cotton Bowls vs Texas and the Sugar and Orange Bowls vs Bama. I know there were game highlight films made of those bowl games, and if there were not full game TV broadcasts preserved, ND should at least preserve and release those highlight films, which are the only video records of those classic games, before they are lost forever...... - Football - College - Classic - Fighting'
Detail Products
Detail Reviews
Click here for more information
