You can’t tell the history of college football without quickly getting to Notre Dame’s role in building the sport as a national tradition. The Fighting Irish are no stranger to the big-time in terms of college football having won 11 national championships all-time, but their recent history isn’t bad either seeing as they haven’t won it all since 1988. Despite not winning a title in 35 years, Notre Dame has been featured regularly on ESPN’s “College Gameday”.
So how has Notre Dame fared when they’ve been spotlighted by the show that first went on the road for “The Game of the Century” back in 1993?
Could you guess the only Notre Dame head coach to have a winning record when the Irish have been featured?
Here is how the Irish have fared in the previous 34 times they’ve been highlighted on Gameday:
Notre Dame played host to the first two road episodes of “College Gameday” as Ron Powlus made his Notre Dame Stadium debut in a heartbreaking, last-second 26-24 loss to Michigan. The Irish would spiral from there.
Notre Dame had their national championship hopes squashed by an upstart Northwestern team to open the season but six weeks later spoiled No. 5 USC’s title dreams as the Irish pasted Keyshawn Johnson and the Trojans, 38-10.
For the fourth straight year Notre Dame played host to “College Gameday” as No. 4 Ohio State got the best of No. 5 Notre Dame, 29-16. This remains the most recent regular-season meeting between the Fighting Irish and Buckeyes.
After not getting featured by “College Gameday” for all of 1997, the show opened the 1998 season with the defending co-national champion Michigan Wolverines and Tom Brady traveling to South Bend. Autry Denson led the way for Notre Dame as the school’s eventual all-time leading rusher went off for over 160 yards and a pair of scores in the upset.
This would be Bob Davie’s first and only win on a game featured by “College Gameday”.
Related: Every Tom Brady Touchdown Pass Recipient in the NFL
The first time Notre Dame played on “College Gameday” in a road setting was in 1999 when Jarious Jackson had the No. 17 Irish thinking upset before dropping a heartbreaker to No. 7 Michigan, 26-22. Notre Dame would drop their next two games as well before rallying and earning a second appearance on the show later that season.
After stumbling out of the gate to a 1-3 mark, Notre Dame rallied with thrilling comeback wins over Oklahoma and USC and were 5-3 when they headed to No. 4 Tennessee in early November. Tennessee running back Travis Henry ran for 132 yards and a touchdown as Notre Dame wouldn’t win again in 1999, finishing 5-7.
After upsetting Texas A&M to open the year Notre Dame welcomed top-ranked Nebraska to Notre Dame Stadium as the “Sea of Red” took over the 80,000 seat stadium. The Irish were gifted two special teams touchdowns by Julius Jones and Joey Getherall, but with a chance to possibly pull the upset late, Bob Davie instead chose to play for overtime where quarterback Eric Crouch would score the game-winning touchdown in Nebraska’s 27-24 victory.
After nearly pulling the upset a year earlier this night belonged entirely to the Huskers who swarmed the Irish all night, allowing Matt LoVecchio to complete just 11 of 24 pass attempts for 78 yards and an interception.
This would be Bob Davie’s final appearance on “College Gameday”.
An unexpected battle of unbeatens took place in mid-October as No. 7 Notre Dame hit the road and behind a strong outing from Ryan Grant, stayed unbeaten, winning 21-14 in Colorado Springs. The win earned a second-straight “College Gameday” appearance a week later for the Irish.
The peak of the Tyrone Willingham era came with “College Gameday” in attendance as the upstart Irish struck quickly on a play-action pass from Carlyle Holiday to Arnaz Battle that set the tone for a Notre Dame upset.
Sadly, the wheels came off a week later as Notre Dame would lose at home to Boston College and things would never be the same under Willingham,
It was the fourth time Notre Dame and Michigan were featured on “College Gameday” but this day belonged entirely to the Wolverines as they ran the Irish out of the Big House, 38-0.
Tyrone Willingham’s final game as Notre Dame’s head coach was featured more as a coronation for USC than anything late in 2004 as Reggie Bush and the top-ranked Trojans pasted the Irish, 41-10.
Willingham did go 3-2 on “College Gameday” during his time at Notre Dame, making him the only Fighting Irish head coach to have a winning record in such games.
“So there’s that.”
Two former NFL coaches returned to their colleges as head coaches for the 2005 opener as the eyes of the nation were on Charlie Weis and Dave Wannstedt.
The Notre Dame offense had a coming-out party as Brady Quinn, Darius Walker, and Jeff Samardzija all had huge nights in what wound up a 42-21 Irish victory.
One of the greatest college football games ever played occurred with “College Gameday” in attendance as the “Bush Push” would give No. 1 USC a last-second victory over No. 9 Notre Dame. the loss proved to be the high point of Charlie Weis’s run as Notre Dame’s head coach as he earned a contract extension shortly after.
No. 2 Notre Dame opened the season getting all they could handle from upstart Georgia Tech, but the Irish held on for a 14-10 victory in a game that proved to be a lot closer than anticipated.
Instant classic this was not as No. 2 USC dominated No. 6 Notre Dame, 44-20. It was the final regular-season game for Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardzija, and Darius Walker, all who never beat USC during their times at Notre Dame.
USC would fall the next week to UCLA, keeping Pete Carroll and the Trojans from a national championship appearance
Notre Dame, fresh off an embarrassing season-opening loss to South Florida was Michigan’s guest for the first night game at Michigan Stadium, and “College Gameday” was in attendance. The highlight of the night for the Irish was the throwback uniforms as Notre Dame would drop this game in epically embarrassing fashion to Denard Robinson and the Wolverines.
“College Gameday” picked a good one for their first trip back to Notre Dame in seven seasons as the Irish forced overtime late and an epic goal line stand kept the Irish unbeaten against a Stanford team who had their number in recent years.
Surviving many close calls in 2012 had the experts thinking Notre Dame was in over their heads as they traveled to Oklahoma in late October but “College Gameday” was on hand to see the Irish exchange blows with the Sooners and overpower Oklahoma late in a 30-13 win that was a lot closer than the final score indicated. The win was perhaps the biggest for Brian Kelly at Notre Dame.
“College Gameday” was there to witness No. 1 Notre Dame putting the stamp on a 12-0 regular season and clinch a national championship berth as they outlasted USC, 22-13 in what was the first perfect regular season for the Irish since 1988.
Notre Dame made the BCS National Championship Game and played Alabama in January of 2013 and “College Gameday” was there. By now you know what happened.
Next.
Notre Dame’s defense had no answer for Michigan early in 2013 as the Wolverines put up 41 points and cruised to a 41-30 victory that they were in control of the majority of the evening.
Notre Dame played a nearly perfect game against the undefeated, defending national champions but a questionable (ridiculous) offensive pass interference call went against the Irish on what would have been the game-winning touchdown pass. Instead, Everett Golson’s desperation heave fell incomplete and Florida State survived.
“College Gameday” was on hand for a thriller played in an incredible rainstorm. After a slow start, Notre Dame came roaring back against Deshaun Watson and Clemson but Deshone Kizer was stopped on a quarterback keeper on a two-point conversion attempt that would have sent the game to overtime.
Halloween 2015 was spent by Notre Dame appearing on “College Gameday” in the morning before taking on an impressive Temple squad who gave the Irish everything they could handle. Will Fuller helped the Irish prevail however as the 24-20 win kept Notre Dame’s College Football Playoff hopes alive.
Notre Dame entered the night with College Football Playoff aspirations as they appeared headed that way but a missed throw by Brandon Wimbush that would have been an early touchdown and lead for the Irish resulted in a…pause…hurricane-like force by Miami as the Canes dominated the night in 41-8 fashion.
Notre Dame has won just two of those seven meetings with Michigan that have been highlighted by “College Gameday”. The 2018 victory on opening night paved the way for Notre Dame to start what would end up being a 12-0 regular season and their first trip to the College Football Playoff.
Despite being a two-touchdown underdog, No. 7 Notre Dame had the ball with a chance to win late in their first-ever trip to the University of Georgia. Ian Book and the Irish couldn’t finish the job as the Bulldogs escaped with a narrow 23-17 victory.
In perhaps the best college football game of the 2020 season, Notre Dame upset No. 1 Clemson who was playing without star quarterback Trevor Lawrence, 47-40 in double-overtime.
Notre Dame trailed by seven late but Ian Book found Avery Davis for a huge gain to set the Irish up inside the five with seconds to play. Book would find Davis a few short plays later for the game-tying touchdown before Notre Dame’s defensive line would take over the second overtime to secure the upset.
Whoever first claimed that sequels aren’t as good as originals knew what they were talking about as Notre Dame controlled the first quarter of the 2020 ACC Championship against Clemson, but a missed chipshot field goal and a couple of misthrows quickly derailed the chances of sweeping the Tigers.
Hopefully, Notre Dame never plays in another conference championship game again.
Played at Soldier Field, Notre Dame was struggling to find offense as they trailed early in the fourth quarter against Wisconsin. Chris Tyree turned the tide of the contest on a kickoff return for a touchdown that was just the beginning of a huge defensive fourth quarter that saw Notre Dame ultimately rout the Badgers, 41-13.
Notre Dame’s first trip to Ohio Stadium since 1996 was plenty of reason for “College Gameday” to open the year in Columbus. The Fighting Irish defense held CJ Stroud and Ohio State in check most of the night, but the offense just couldn’t get things going in the 21-10 opening season loss to the 2022 year.
Notre Dame and Ohio State clashed again in 2023 with College Gameday making yet another appearance for the rare matchup. This one went down to the literal last second as Notre Dame missed several opportunities to put the game away, resulting in a 17-14 Buckeyes win.