Return to Glory
Chapter One
ROCK BOTTOM
November 24, 2001, Stanford Stadium
THE NOTRE DAME HEAD COACH had fought through failures before, but
when he saw his team collapse this time, he knew there was no coming
back from it.
With over seven minutes left in the game, Bob Davie's team was
leading Stanford 13-3. It was third-and-ten, and the Cardinal had
the ball on its own 19-yard line. Stanford had no chance. Well, they
weren't supposed to have a chance. But after Stanford quarterback
Randy Fasani threw a strike to receiver Nick Sebes for a gain of 46
yards, something strange happened.
The Stanford team, in this case the "other" team, acted as though
they were supposed to win. Even though they were the "academic" team
that was supposed to just make things respectable against teams like
Notre Dame, Stanford acted as though they were the dominant program
in college football. They carried themselves as if they set the
standards for excellence. That was probably because their head
coach, Tyrone Willingham, thought anything was possible.
Even after Sebes's long gain, things looked grim for the Card ... read full excerpt from Return to Glory: Inside Tyrone Willingham's Amazing First Season AtNotre Dame ebook
