Introduction
Anybody who has played American football or watches it regularly will be familiar with 4-3 defensive strategy. It is probably the most commonly used defence strategy used by professional teams in the National Football League (NFL). The list of teams which utilise this tactic is very long, but just to give some idea of the teams using the 4-3 defence, here are some names: New York Giants, Atlanta Falcons, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, and the Chicago Bears. In the 4-3 defence scheme there are only three linebackers. The middle linebacker plays a key role in this scheme and is usually seen as the person in charge of the defence. Notre Dame has been using the 4-3 defence for a long time now and will probably continue to use it as it is an effective strategy.
History
When Notre Dame first changed to the 4-3 Defense scheme, it was top secret as they did not want their rival teams to know what defensive strategy they were going to use in the upcoming football season. Therefore, the coach of Notre Dame decided to call the strategy Dame football Notre. Dame football Notre was the code word for 4-3 defense and it was not until the opening game of the season that the secret was let out what exactly Dame football Notre was. The genius behind this secretive campaign and the one who came up with the code name was senior coach Ralph Mahmood. Ralph Mahmood said that it was kind of an accident that the codename became Dame Football Notre.
Features
Notre Dame is famous throughout the United States and also the world for the first-rate education, beautiful campus, its football team and Touchdown Jesus. Touchdown Jesus might conjure up an image of Jesus wearing a helmet and running with an oval shaped ball. But actually Touchdown Jesus refers to a mosaic on the side of the Hesburgh Library. The mosaic features a Jesus with his arms raised as is quite common in Christian imagery. But the joke is that Jesus has got his arms raised so that he can catch a football since the library located quite close to the stadium where the Notre Dame football practices.
Tips and comments
The Notre Dame Stadium can seat over 80,000 spectators and all games are nationally televised. The current mascot of the Notre Dame Football team is the Notre Dame Leprechaun. Before the Leprechaun was a terrier dog named Brick Top Shuan-Rhu. Many professional NFL players used to play for Notre Dame in their college days. Some of the names include Jordan Black, J.J Jansen, Ian Williams, Sam Young and Ryan Grant. Notre Dame has experienced a significantly better performance since they started using the 4-3 scheme or maybe better known as the Dame Football Notre. The Michigan State Spartans are long-term rival team of Notre Dame as are also the USC Trojans and the Michigan Wolverines. The Notre Dame team has 13 recognized national champions which they have won. The only teams that have won more are Yale and Princeton.
