Notre Dame was supposed to open the 2020 college football season in Dublin, Ireland but those plans were scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year it was to be Illinois and Nebraska kicking off the college football season in Dublin but the pandemic canceled that game as well.
Now though we know that 2022 will see the college football season start in Aviva Stadium in Dublin as Nebraska will take on a team from Illinois, just not the Fighting Illini.
Instead, it will be the Northwestern Wildcats who travel abroad to take on the Cornhuskers on August 27, 2022, part of college football’s Week Zero that season.
Northwestern has never played a game outside of the United States.
On a personal level I’m not huge on college football games being played in non-college football venues but seeing Notre Dame there in 2012 was one of the most unique sporting events I’ve ever attended and you can bet I’ll be trying to talk my Northwestern graduate wife into taking the trip next August.