Editor’s Note: The original intention of the “30 Years of Notre Dame on NBC” series was to set the stage for the 30th year of the partnership. But then 2020 intervened with a fury, and the season did not grant the time to publish the last half dozen entries. As 2020’s reach lengthens 2021’s winter doldrums, there is no reason not to walk down those memory lanes now.
When UCLA stopped Brady Quinn on fourth-and-one with just more than two minutes remaining in their 2006 tilt, the Bruins also seemed to stop any Notre Dame title hopes, or even hopes of reaching a BCS Bowl.