Football. One of America’s favorite pastimes, the entertainment for people’s fall weekends, and if you’re a Notre Dame student, your second religion.
I was blessed to be born into a family full of passionate Notre Dame fans. I have gone to the school’s football games every fall since I was three, and coming from a family with a sports-crazed dad and his two sons eagerly filling his shoes, I came to embrace the football know-hows. Fall weekends in the Mayer household started with Friday night high school football, followed by my brothers’ pee-wee little league game Saturday morning, topped by the marathon of college games that day, and finished off by pro game Sundays as the grand finale. To pass the dull weekdays until that next Friday night lights, we would listen to ESPN officials debating the upcoming games.
From the outside looking in, this may be an extremist lifestyle, but I’m lucky because I’ve had an unfair advantage when it comes to football. I’ve grown up with this sport practically encoded in my DNA, but for all of you who are new to football or at least Notre Dame football, I’m here to teach a quick crash course in this subject, so when that first game day saturday comes around, you won’t end up looking like this:
Just kidding, I know no respectable Notre Dame fan would ever be caught in Michigan attire.
Game Plan
Football is composed of two eleven-men teams, the offense and defense. The offense is trying to score, while the defense is trying to stop them. The game is divided up into 4 fifteen minute quarters with a half time in between the 2nd and the 3rd quarter. The football field itself is 100 yards long, divided in the middle by the 50 yard line and from either side, it goes down by 10 yards.
Every game starts with a kickoff, which means the defense kicks the ball from their own 30 yard line to the offense to officially start the game. The goal of the offense, besides scoring of course, is to gain 10 yards. You have four chances, referred to as four downs, to gain those 10 yards. When you don’t reach this goal after four downs, the defense gets the ball and switches to offense. ***Important note*** If you ever hear someone say first and ten (or second and forty, or third and fifty, etc) that simply means it is first down and the teams are on the ten yard line.
Locker Room Talk – The Lingo
Run, pass, and tackle — I have faith in your capability to understand these pretty self-explanatory terms.
Touchdown – when the offense runs the ball to the end zone and scores six points.
Field goal – this is where things can get a little confusing, so bear with me. The offense can score a field goal without a touchdown, which earns them three points, or they can get a field goal after their touchdown which earns them only one point. No matter what, after a touchdown, the offense gets a chance to score an additional point, either the field goal for one point, or they can run it again for two points. The two point run is a lot harder, so most teams just do the one point field goal.
Fumble – the ball carrier or passer drops the ball, any player from either team can get the ball and whichever team gets the ball gets to play it.
Interception – when the defensive team gets the ball away from the offensive team during a pass.
Your All Star Lineup -The Players
Offense
The center is the player who snaps the ball to the quarterback and then blocks defense. The quarterback is a very big deal. He’s the guy who makes all the big passes. The wide receivers catch the ball that the quarterback throws and run it down to get a touchdown. The running backs can also take the ball and run with it.Tight ends block defense and can catch the ball, too.
Defense (spoilers: the defensive players all have the same type of job — stop the offense)
Linebackers defend against the offense and try to stop a run or tackle the quarterback. The defensive line goes against the offensive line. Cornerbacks and safeties try to stop the pass from the quarterback to the wide receiver and stop the run.
Congrats! You have completed the crash course in football basics! Now, for the fun part – Notre Dame football. You’ll hear some people say all football is the same. That is the most incorrect statement since “Rihanna is better than Beyonce.” It’s just wrong. College football is hands down the best because you have players who aren’t playing for money like in the pros. They are playing, excuse the cliche, for the love of the game and they are proud to represent their school. Also, they have the best fans in the world. Each Saturday, college students, alum, and admirers come together for the love of one team clashing with its rival.
But that doesn’t even begin to touch on Notre Dame football. First off, this team is full of traditions; the famous golden helmets, the leprechaun mascot, the touchdown pushups. More importantly, the sense of unity found in the Notre Dame student section is like none other. Notre Dame is famous for its community and that renowned community is found in its purest form in the football stadium. Students come together to cheer on their team. And no matter how the game goes, at the end all the students, players and fans, huddle together to sing the Alma Mater.
As a last piece of advice, when in doubt, cheer it out! If you’re at a game and the ref makes a call that, to you, sounds like a completely foreign language, just follow the crowd. Boo and cheer with the people around you and trust me, after you go to enough of these games, you’ll catch on!
Happy Sporting! May your saturdays be filled with many tailgates, legendary wins, and game-winning plays you will now understand!
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