... last minute heartbreaker at Stanford. Although the game was exciting, the loss dropped the Irish to 6-6 for the regular season for the second straight year.

The difference is that this year expectations were so much higher than that. The team was fully expecting to be contending for a BCS bowl. The way the season started, it appeared as though that expectation was becoming a reality. The Irish opened the year by completely dominating Nevada.

Then they had a string of close games in which they won all but the ones against USC and Michigan. In both games, Notre Dame played well despite the loss. During that run the Irish got the Boston College and Michigan State monkeys off their back.

Remember the Alamo? Notre Dame sat a...

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