Ahhh… college football. How I love it. Having gone to a major university in the heart of football country, I truly have a warm place in my heart for college football. Hearing ESPN’s Game Day theme at the end of August brings a tear to my eye and makes me all warm inside. Every fall brings renewed hope that this could be the year my team makes it to the National Championship.
Then, usually around mid-October, I resign myself to the fact that they ’ll be lucky to make it to a bowl game.
That wasn’t always the case though. Once, back in the olden days when basic cable was still in its infancy, my team, the University of Georgia Bulldogs, won a National Championship behind a star running back named Herschel Walker. That Championship game was played against none other than the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and my Dawgs beat them 17 – 10.
It should come as no surprise that this game is not included on the College Football’s Greatest Games: University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish Collector’s Edition set. However, for people unlike me who are actually fans of Notre Dame’s football team, this set is a goldmine of good stuff. Over 20 hours of classic college football is included. Seven complete games in their uncut glory and the surviving footage (the entire second half) of the 1966 Notre Dame vs. Michigan State contest. This is the kind of content that Irish fans should salivate over.
 For a team with this kind of history, it must have been hard to narrow the field down to eight great games. For those that may not know, the Fighting Irish have won 11 national championships. They’ve had seven Heisman Trophy winners. They’ve had more all-Americans and more players to go pro than any other college football team in the history of the game. Their alumni include Joe Montana, Jerome Bettis, Raghib "Rocket" Ismail, and Joe Theismann. They were once coached by Knute Rockne, who posted the best winning percentage ever achieved in college football while he was their leader (.881). This team could easily fill ten box sets like this one.
The eight games included in this set are indeed the cream of the crop, highlighting some great players, great coaches and fantastic football.
Disc one contains the 1977 game between Notre Dame and the USC Trojans. I don’t much like Notre Dame, but I completely despise USC, so I enjoyed watching this game. Plus, it’s got Joe Montana at quarterback, throwing four touchdowns and generally showing you the promise of what he would eventually do in the NFL.
Disc two is one of three bowl games in the set, featuring the 1978 Cotton Bowl vs. Texas. Here, Montana commands the field again, and with the help of Jerome Heavens and Vagas Ferguson (each with over 100 yards rushing), took the Irish to a National Championship.
Disc three features one of those great football stories that has become almost legend. The year is 1979, the game is the Cotton Bowl vs. Houston and senior quarterback Joe Montana is in the locker room with the flu, literally drinking chicken soup per the team doctor’s orders. Down by 22 points, Montana took the field late in the third quarter and led the Irish to a one point victory. It is literally one of the greatest sports comebacks in history and it’s awesome that it’s available in this set.
 Disc four hit close to home. In 1988, I was a fairly big Miami Hurricane fan (having grown up nearby). Sitting in a broadcast station in Iwakuni, Japan, waiting for the teletype to spit out the score, I was horrified (and $50.00 poorer) when I saw that Notre Dame had beaten the ‘Canes by a single point. I never got to see that actual game until now, and honestly, Miami did not deserve to win it. Notre Dame is fired up here and just outplays them. Even when the ‘Canes engineer a comeback in the final quarter, you can tell the Irish team and fans know it’s destiny that they won. One thing that is especially fun to watch in this disc is Reggie Ho. I’m not sure about this, but I think Ho, the place kicker, may be the smallest person ever to play college football for a Division I-A school. The other players tower over him in the huddle. It’s pretty hilarious to see.
Disc five is the 1989 Fiesta Bowl vs. West Virginia. This game is notable for being a great example of coach Lou Holtz’ manipulation of opponents through the media. Believe me, after he went on to coach South Carolina, even my Bulldogs had to put up with this. It’s simple really. Holtz tells the press he’s extremely worried about his  team’s opponent, in this case West Virginia. Everyone thinks it’s really going to be a contest and even the other teams’ players start underestimating Holtz’ team. They take the field and the Irish dominate every aspect of the game. In this case it was a 34-21 blowout.
Disc six is “The Snow Bowl”, a 1992 game that will make you shiver even if you live in Arizona and it’s July. It was the last of the Notre Dame vs. Penn State series of games and featured Joe Paterno coaching against Lou Holtz. The Notre Dame team included Rick Mirer, Jerome Bettis and Reggie Brooks pulling off a 17 – 16 victory in 31°F weather while snow flurries cut visibility considerably.
The set closes out with disc seven, the Notre Dame vs Florida State game from 1993, and disc eight, featuring a 1966 game between Notre Dame and Michigan State. In the former, the Irish knocked off the number-one ranked Seminoles, snapping their 16-game winning streak. The latter is the surviving footage from a very controversial game, still debated today due to the strategy coach Ara Parseghian employed, a gem for Notre Dame fans.
 Presentation
If there is any one place where this set lacks a little, it’s in the presentation. A&E makes it known up front that there are “technical imperfections that are inherent in the original recordings.” The latter games obviously fair better, but what’s amazing is how much the quality of the picture can fluctuate within a single game. The difference in footage between the first half and second half can drastically change, making for a distracting viewing experience. This is especially true if you’re watching it on a large screen television.
The audio is also a product of its time. Most of these recordings sound like standard television recordings, nothing more and nothing less. Still, just to have these available if you’re a fan is a great thing.
Extras
Well, it’s not exactly loaded, but what is here is interesting. One thing I really liked about all of these discs is that they include the pre-game presentation. That means you get the little bits of produced introduction prior to each game. That’s not listed on the set as an extra, but I feel it should be. It really allows you to get into the spirit of what the game meant at that point in time. Footage of 1977 pep rallies and profiles on coaches and players really set the tone nicely.
As for actual extras, the vintage highlight films, original radio calls for key plays and special navigation by quarter and scoring drive are all fantastic things to have. They make it so that if you don’t have three hours to kill watching these, you can hit the highlights easily.
Finally, the packaging on this thing is fantastic for the football fan. Every disc comes with complete offensive and defensive rosters, notable quotes, game and team trivia, complete box scores, and even weather conditions. Great job A&E!
 The Bottom Line
I enjoyed watching the games on this set. When you read that sentence, keep in mind that I’m not a Notre Dame fan, and in fact was rooting against them in real time the very day this review was typed. However, it’s got just about everything you could want if you are a Notre Dame fan. The only thing that could have made College Football’s Greatest Games: University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish Collector’s Edition any better would have been a bonus feature of current interviews with players like Montana or coach Holtz. I’m docking it a 0.5 pants for the distracting film quality only. In short, if you love football, you should check this out.
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