Tramel: Notre Dame is golden opportunity for Oklahoma State football in the Fiesta Bowl
Berry TramelOklahoman
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The gold helmets first appeared in the 1950s. A tribute to Notre Dame’s Main Building, which most know as the Golden Dome.
Notre Dame is all about tradition, football or otherwise. And nothing is more traditional than Notre Dame gold.
Oh, the Fighting Irish have messed with the tradition. In 1958, Notre Dame put jersey numbers on the side of the helmets. Shamrocks(!) were on the helmets from 1959-62. Ara Parseghian, for a time, passed out helmet stickers for good plays, ala Ohio State.
Coach Brian Kelly and athletic director Jack Swarbrick in 2011 directed a helmet change, to a shinier finish, more like the Golden Dome itself.
And Saturday in the Fiesta Bowl, the Oklahoma State Cowboys share a field with that iconic gold headgear.
“I think there's five helmet logos that stand out to all of us in college football,” Mike Gundy said. He declined to start a wildfire by naming the other four. “I will just say Notre Dame is one of them.”
OSU, with more fashion options than Khloe Kardashian, will counter with one of its new-age looks. The Cowboy uniforms are snazzy, and there’s something to be said for that. But Notre Dame’s are iconic. Just like their football tradition.
Which makes this Fiesta Bowl prime opportunity for OSU football. The Cowboys’ first game against Notre Dame. It comes on a neutral field, between top-10 teams.
“The position historically that Notre Dame has held, the fact that we’ve never had the opportunity to play them before, I think it is just a great opportunity,” said Cowboy athletic director Chad Weiberg. “Kind of what makes bowls what they are and makes them exciting, providing those types of opportunities.”
Exactly. Sometimes we forget the power of bowls. In this age of bowl glut (Middle Tennessee-Toledo!) and player opt-outs and coaches jumping jobs and all the focus on the playoff, the bowls at their best provide this kind of matchup.
OSU-Notre Dame. Utah-Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, which follows the Fiesta on ESPN. A chance for an up-and-comer to crash through the class ceiling and play an out-of-conference blueblood on equal footing.
The Cowboys have played at Michigan and Florida and Ohio State. But none of those opponents have been to Stillwater. OSU played Florida State on a neutral field. The Cowboys played Alabama and Miami in bowl games, but in years when both teams were down.
So this Fiesta Bowl is a rare confluence of a great brand, great team opponent.
OSU’s increased status, with its success under Gundy, has reaped upcoming home-and-home series with Alabama and Oregon. And former athletic director Mike Holder tried to schedule Notre Dame, but the Irish are a tough catch.
“Notre Dame, they’re kind of a different deal all together, just because of the way they do scheduling,” Weiberg said. “They move their brand all around the country. Seems like, likely, if we were to play them in a game, it would probably be a neutral site somewhere.”
So those golden helmets aren’t likely to be seen in Stillwater anytime soon.
But good news. Weiberg said getting teams to agree to play in Boone Pickens Stadium isn’t as challenging as it once was. The main scheduling problem these days is not desire, but logistics. Getting the puzzle pieces to fit. Same years open. Same weeks open.
“I think that’s a testament to Coach Gundy and what he’s done with the program, under his leadership, elevating it to where we can schedule those types of games,” Weiberg said. “Some of the top programs in all the different conferences have agreed to play us.”
For more than a century, college football programs have been grouped in unofficial tiers. OSU, to its everlasting credit, has climbed the ladder through several of those classes. But Notre Dame is at the top.
“It's like a 40-year waiting list to play these games, and we get to play them,” said OSU defensive end Brock Martin. “Notre Dame is a big name. It's a household name. They have their own TV deals and all that stuff. So it's a huge opportunity for us.
“We have done a good job of putting ourselves in the spotlight this year. And Gundy has done a good job in his tenure. So I think we are all looking forward to Saturday.”
This opportunity is twofold. Not just to share State Farm Stadium with Notre Dame, but the chance to beat the Fighting Irish when they are at the top of their game. Notre Dame, 11-1 and ranked fifth, staged a renaissance in the last decade under Kelly.
Kelly a month ago fled to Louisiana State, but Notre Dame quickly promoted defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman to head coach, and Notre Dame’s vast fan base is fired up. The same exuberance that Sooners have over new coach Brent Venables? That’s how the Fighting Irish faithful feel about Freeman.
Launching the Freeman era is a big deal in South Bend. Spoiling Freeman’s Notre Dame debut would be even more bounty for OSU.
The Cowboys no longer are a sleepy program, under OU’s shadow and down the ranks of the Big Eight or Big 12.
“Oklahoma State's logo now is marketable and popular from coast-to-coast,” Gundy said. “We've had tremendous success for a long time here and we have been fortunate enough to play and go toe-to-toe with top-five, top-10 teams for a number of years now.
“So, we have a marketable logo. I have all the respect in the world for Notre Dame's helmet. I'm good with all that. But I think people respect Oklahoma State's logo and, our players, they want people to respect that. That's why I was really excited about playing this game.”
Heck, even OSU quarterback Spencer Sanders is excited. Sanders doesn’t claim to be a college football historian. He told us a few weeks ago that he hadn’t even seen “Rudy,” the 1993 film that pays homage to Notre Dame’s tradition.
Sanders says he grew up playing outside, not watching football. But Sanders knows Notre Dame.
“It will be one for the books,” Sanders said. “It's Notre Dame. There's just a lot of excitement. That's what you hear across the whole U.S. It's not just a small-town college that people don't know about. When you say Notre Dame, everybody knows Notre Dame.”
And after Saturday, everybody will know Oklahoma State a little bit more, thanks to those opposing helmets in a Fiesta Bowl that is a golden opportunity.
