South Bend, Ind. (CNN) -- When you say "Notre Dame" and then throw in words such as mystique, storied and blessed, you create as many folks rolling their eyes as wiping away tears of joy. This has been so throughout the 125 seasons of football for the Fighting Irish, especially when they are good. Well, forget about placing "Notre Dame" and "good" in the same sentence for a moment. With overwhelming losses to supposedly inferior foes on a consistent basis and underwhelming coaches from Bob Davie to Tyrone Willingham to Charlie Weis, "Notre Dame" has been "mediocre" or less during the last two decades.
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Notre Dame hasn't won a national championship since 1988
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However, pep rallies Friday nights before home games host crowds of 20,000
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Coach/player duo Knute Rockne and George Gipp were immortalized in the 1940 film
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Today fans are inspired by Manti Te'o, who played the day his girlfriend and grandmother died
Needless to say, @placeholder's offense promptly roared to the end zone after that to take a lead the Irish would never relinquish.