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TU runs over Tulane TU's running game clicks as big plays abound TU: Report card TU notebook: Beaver hurt TU: How they scored TULSA'S 52-24 wipeout of Tulane means the preliminary bouts are over. Now, after an open date, comes a road trip that TU fans have been waiting 115 years to make. The coveted trip is, of course, to Notre Dame. TU has been playing football since 1895 and twice played something called Catholic University before World War II, but has never, ever had the pleasure of facing the "other" Catholic university - the one in South Bend that boasts 841 wins, 11 national championships, Rockne, seven Heisman winners, Gipp, Four Horsemen, Rudy and a shillelagh-wielding leprechaun.
That's a lot to overcome. Notre Dame's sports information department publishes a football media guide and a separate history and records supplement. The supplement could weigh more than a TU lineman. Does the Hurricane have any chance in the pending battle of who has the goldest domes? Here's a shred of hope: Nobody is better at streak-breaking than Notre Dame. Weirdly, that could work in TU's favor. Oklahoma won a college football-record 47 consecutive games before Notre Dame ended the streak on Nov. 6, 1957. UCLA won a college basketball-record 88 consecutive games before Notre Dame halted that streak on Jan. 19, 1974. The Fighting Irish can't seem to help themselves when a streak is at stake, so maybe they'll break this streak too: TU has lost 20 consecutive games to schools from BCS leagues since a 1998 victory over Oklahoma State. Notre Dame isn't in a BCS league (or any conference for that matter), but the Fighting Irish are the same species as college football's fortunate sons because a top-eight finish guarantees them BCS bowl access. What kind of team is TU taking to South Bend? It's a 4-3 team that could be 6-1 if it had a leprechaun on the sideline. TU lost at East Carolina after surrending a Hail Mary touchdown on the final play and lost a three-point game at SMU on a night when two field goal attempts were blocked. "We feel like we should be 6-1," quarterback G.J. Kinne said Saturday. "And East Carolina is a pretty good team. They beat North Carolina State today." Regarding the unusual events that contributed to the SMU and East Carolina defeats, Kinne said "something crazy" always seems to happen to TU. "But (offensive coordinator Chad Morris) preaches that something is going to have to start happening our way and I think that started tonight." The problem with hyping TU as an "almost" 6-1 team is the blemish was a 65-28 loss to Oklahoma State in which the Hurricane surrendered 722 yards. That doesn't sound like a squad that is ready for NBC (alias the Notre Dame network) cameras. "You talk about Oklahoma State and it's definitely a for-sure loss or whatever," linebacker Tanner Antle said. "But since then we have developed and discovered our identity as a team." There are reasons to buy what Antle is selling. TU has played three consecutive turnover-free games and has proven itself to be a league above C-USA's bottom feeders, beating Memphis and Tulane by an average of 34.5 points. Antle was asked his opinion on this: Notre Dame could be the least important remaining game on the schedule because it's not a conference game and TU has nothing to lose except a game it's not supposed to win. Or Notre Dame could be the most important TU game of the 2000s because of the identity of the opponent. Antle said he has been in media training for five years, so he knew to say that the next game is always the most important game. The most recent most important game, the bashing of Tulane, came one day after honorary captain and former player Terrell Siegfried talked to the Hurricane about the importance of never letting an opportunity slip away in life or on game days. A golden opportunity arrives Oct. 30 and Kinne said he and his teammates are definitely not going on a tourist trip. He said a victory over Notre Dame would be the biggest win in school history. Asked if he has researched that topic, Kinne said, "That's what Coach Graham preaches. I'm sure there are a lot of wins over Oklahoma and stuff like that. But playing against Notre Dame in South Bend will be pretty special, I think."
