A young Scott Shafer spent his weekends watching football in Painesville, Ohio. No cable, just the broadcasts of Ohio State, Michigan, whoever they were playing and Syracuse’s (2-1) Saturday 8 p.m. opponent, No. 8 Notre Dame (3-0).

In his Tuesday teleconference, Shafer said Ohio State, Michigan and the Fighting Irish, in that order, were his favorite teams to root for growing up. From 1967, the year Shafer was born, to 1985, Notre Dame finished in the top 25 12 times, had an average year-end ranking of 6.7 and won seven of the 11 bowl games it played in.

“We’d always watch the Big Ten matchups and then Notre Dame,” Shafer said. “And you always were rooting for the teams that were close-by in the Midwest.”

But when Lou Holtz became the UND head coach in 1986, Shafer said he began to cheer for the Fighting Irish more. Because like Shafer, Holtz grew up in Ohio.

Holtz went on to go 100-30 leading the Irish from 1986-96, to five bowl victories and the 1988 national championship after beating West Viriginia in the Fiesta Bowl.

“I kind of rooted for them a little bit more because Coach Holtz was an Ohio guy and had dealings with so many of the big kids from the state of Ohio,” Shafer said. “So for me that’s kind of the way I always looked at Notre Dame.”

 

 

Published on September 23, 2014 at 2:11 pm

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_