Notre Dame and South Florida have only matched up one other time in history, and this week two ND memories will converge into an interesting story line as the Irish look to go to 2-0.
From 2005 to 2009 Charlie Weis was the head coach at Notre Dame and his teen age son Charlie Weis Jr. very visibly roamed the sidelines next to his father.
Immersed in the coaching world from a very young age, Charlie Weis Jr. has quickly worked his way up in the coaching world and his developed a reputation a bit like his fathers: that of an offensive football savant. This week he will enter Notre Dame stadium again, this time as the 27 year old offensive coordinator for South Florida.
And that brings us to the convergence of two ND memories, because in 2011 another young coach, also the son of a former head coach entered Notre Dame stadium to take on the Irish.
In 2011 Brian Kelly opened his 2nd season at in the first ever match up against South Florida, coached by former Notre Dame player for his father Lou, Skip Holtz.
That day ND was a 10-point favorite. Dayne Crist started at QB but was so ineffective that the Irish went into the locker room trailing 16-0. And things got really crazy because severe weather was rapidly bearing down on the stadium. The officials ordered the Stadium evacuated and the first ever weather-related delay in the history of Notre Dame stadium ensued.
The delay last 2 hours and 10 minutes, When the Irish finally returned to the field they had switched quarterbacks and Tommy Rees took over for Crist. Rees managed 24 of 34 good for 296 yards in two quarters of play and got the score to 23-14.
And then the severe weather returned. With 4:21 left to play, the stadium was again evacuated. This time the delay lasted 43 minutes.
When the teams finally returned, Rees managed a score late on a 99-yard drive capped off by a Michael Floyd touchdown pass, to pull the irish within 3 at 23-20. But an onside kick attempt failed and South Florida ran out the clock to secure the upset win for Skip Holtz. The game had lasted 5 hours and 59 minutes.
This week the Irish will look to exorcise memories of that long day nine years ago, and a young coach by the name of Charlie Weis Jr. will be looking to create some new memories of his own, when he returns to Notre Dame Stadium.