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A Pocket Guide To The Football Team Of Notre Dame
We are in that horrible part of the year where there’s very little football to watch. Both college and professional football are taking a break – but don’t worry, the pre-season will be upon us soon.
You can find the best NCAAF odds for next season here.
To help us get through this waiting period, we have decided to take a deeper look at some of the teams we think are going to have an exciting season next year.
We are starting off with the Fighting Irish.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the college football team of Notre Dame University. They have been playing since 1887 and have been incredibly successful in the national championships. 7 players from this school have won the Heisman Trophy.
Let’s take a closer look at this team, how it’s performing, and what we can expect from it next season.
Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame is based in Indiana. It is a catholic college and is considered to be one of the best in the country.
As well as their football team, they have a wide range of other athletics teams that all compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference – except their ice hockey team that competes in the Big 10.
Their football team is their most successful, but it is closely followed by their fencing team which has won 10 national championships. They also have a competitive basketball program.
Team History
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the second most successful football team in the NCAA. They have won a total of 22 national championships, only Yale (28 championships) has more.
They now play as an independent team and do not enter the NCAA Finals.
The team was founded in 1887 and it was not something that was always taken seriously at the school. They lost their first game 0-8. They didn’t hire their first coach until 7 years later in 1894.
They won’t win their first national championship until 1919. They won their most recent national championship in 2012.
They play their home games in Notre Dame Stadium, which has a capacity of 77,622.
Coach
Notre Dame started this season in the capable hands of Brian Kelly, who had been head coach of the team since 2010. After an amazing season, the news was leaked that Kelly would be leaving the Fighting Irish for LSU.
After the end of the 2021-22 season, Marcus Freeman took over the job.
Freeman had started the season with the Fighting Irish as their assistant coach and took over the big job after Kelly left. It is his first head coach role. Freeman played in the NFL for a year but had to retire early due to a heart problem.
This Season
Norte Dame had an incredible season this year. They finished top of their table with an 11-1 win-loss record.
Their first game was against Florida State which they won in overtime. The team they lost against was the Cincinnati Bearcats, this match ended 13-24. Their most resounding victory was against Georgia Tech who they beat 55-0.
At the end of the season, Kelly left and Freeman took over at the start of the postseason.
They won themselves a place in the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State. They lost this match 35-37.
Rivals
Notre Dame has two main rivals USC and the Navy.
The Notre Dame vs USC rivalry is one of the oldest and most important rivalries in college football – every year they play each other for the Jeweled Shillelagh. Notre Dame leads 48–36–5 overall. Notre Dame is on a 4 win streak.
People are particularly fascinated by this rivalry because of the distance between the two colleges.
Notre Dame’s other rival is the Navy. They have played 94 times since 1927 – Notre Dame leads 80-13-1 and is currently on a 45 game winning streak.
These teams had played yearly without interruption until the COVID-19 pandemic canceled games in 2020 and early 2021.
Notre Dame also has rivalries with Michigan, Michigan State, Stanford, and Pitt.
Next Season
Notre Dame has had a series of really successful seasons under the care of Kelly. But we are unsure about how they will perform under Freeman.
Freeman has no experience as a head coach but did spend a few months training with Kelly. We will have to wait and see how they do next season.