Tag: Notre Dame Stadium

Photos of Notre Dame’s College Football Playoff win over Indiana

What image or images will you remember most?

Every time Notre Dame takes part in something historic, the significance of that something seems to increase. Such was the case in their 27-17 win over Indiana, which served as the first College Football Playoff game in history to take place on a campus. What better place to kick off this new playoff era than Notre Dame Stadium?

Before the Irish focus too much on playing Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, they should take a little time to reflect on what they just did. They shined under the brightest lights their historic stadium has ever seen, and it happened when they were fortunate enough to be the ones to break new ground in the playoff. The memories and images that came with this game will live in their minds forever and rightfully so.

In case anyone on the Irish actually wants to relive this evening now or in the future, we’ve provided a photo gallery they can view for their enjoyment. But you, the fans, most likely will get first dibs, so here it is:

Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts becomes two-time consensus All-American

The Irish will miss him after this season.

Notre Dame safety [autotag]Xavier Watts[/autotag] has a bright future in football. The NFL is calling him, and he hopefully will have a nice career there. For now though, he continues to rack up accolades as part of the Irish.

Watts has repeated as a consensus All-American, becoming the first Irish player to do so since [autotag]Aaron Taylor[/autotag] in 1993 and the first Irish defensive back to achieve it since [autotag]Todd Lyght[/autotag] in 1990.

When the Irish face Indiana in the first round of the College Football Playoff, Watts will have chance to add onto his five interceptions, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, nine passes defended and 49 tackles. He has earned one honor after another this season, and a college football team usually can’t get far without a player of his caliber.

Hopefully, Watts enjoys what will be his final game at Notre Dame Stadium on Friday win or lose. And if you’re interested in his thoughts about these honors, here’s what he recently said on WNDU-TV:

The Irish are lucky to have him for sure.

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Limited-edition menu item to debut at Notre Dame Stadium for CFP game

Get your hands on this at the game before it’s too late.

Fans who arrive early to Notre Dame Stadium for the first round of the College Football Playoff will have the best shot at a new food item. Levy’s is debuting a desert called Bread Pudding Shamrock with Fighting Irish Caramel Sauce.

The bread pudding combines cinnamon sugar, white chocolate and raisins while being topped with green and gold sugar and sprinkles. The caramel sauce is combined with Bailey’s Irish cream.

The reason fans need to arrive early to get it is that only 100 servings will be made with an equal amount being distributed in sections No. 10 and No. 25. Each bread pudding will cost $7.49.

When Notre Dame takes the field against Indiana, there will be a lot of firsts at Notre Dame Stadium, including the first true elimination game there. Now, it includes this food item, and perhaps it will be permanently added to the concession stand menu for 2025 if it sells out or gets close to it during this game. Excitement is in the air in South Bend.

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Notre Dame giving rally towel to fans at College Football Playoff game

You’ll get this if you go.

Whenever a sports team plays a particularly important game, usually in the playoffs, it likes to give fans something at the gate. The idea is to encourage those fans to use that item while making more noise that they might at a game with lower stakes.

Notre Dame is taking advantage of hosting a first-round College Football Playoff game by presenting its own free giveaway to fans who will witness the Irish play Indiana at Notre Dame Stadium. Those fans will receive a rally towel with a print appropriate for the game and what’s at stake.

It’s hard to know how often the Irish will get to host one of these games in the future. Therefore, they know it’s up to them to pull out all the stops to make sure it’s as unforgiving an environment to the Hoosiers and their fans as possible. Here’s the video that unveiled the towel:

This will be a collector’s item for certain, but only those attending the game are guaranteed to have one.

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Notre Dame releases hype video for College Football Playoff game

Get yourself excited by watching this.

The first-round College Football Playoff game between Notre Dame and Indiana will be unlike anything Notre Dame Stadium has ever seen. For the first time officially, the Irish will be playing for their season, and it will be happening in December. That means a cold setting for football, but one that the sellout crowd is expected to fully embrace.

To that end, the Irish have released a hype video for the game narrated by 2015 Butkus Award winner and former linebacker [autotag]Jaylon Smith[/autotag]. It really leans into the idea that snow could fall during the game, but the crowd will make a lot of noise regardless.

As of this writing, the AccuWeather forecast calls for clouds with possible snow showers during the game. It also specifically says the weather will be “seasonably chilly for the playoff game”. You know a game is big when even an official weather forecast is mentioning it:

Regardless of whether it snows, it’s advisable to bundle up. More importantly though, the Irish need to hear their fans’ support in this high-stakes contest.

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Photos of Notre Dame football’s victory over USC in annual rivalry game

What image will you remember most from this game?

Notre Dame is in the College Football Playoff after closing the regular season with a 49-35 victory over USC. It’s great whenever the Irish defeat the Trojans, especially on the road, but this one carried extra meaning for the aforementioned reason. Historically, the Irish have needed this win a bunch of times to determine their postseason fate, and they answered the call again.

Now, the Irish play the waiting game as to where they’ll be playing their first playoff game and who. It’s almost if not completely certain that they’ll be opening at Notre Dame Stadium, so fans undoubtedly are making their travel plans for South Bend for that weekend if they haven’t already. Who would have thought that was possible after the loss to Northern Illinois?

While there are bigger things ahead, that doesn’t mean the Irish shouldn’t enjoy their win over the Trojans. In fact, they might want to look back at photos of the day such as the following:

Notre Dame statistical leaders through 11 games

Who leads the Irish heading into the final regular-season contest?

Notre Dame has its fate in its own hands for the College Football Playoff. All it needs to do is defeat USC, and a first-round game at Notre Dame Stadium appears to be a certainty. Who would have thought the Irish would be in such a good position after the loss to Northern Illinois threatened to derail their season early?

The Irish can’t afford to get complacent though. The Trojans have not had a great season, but dealing the Irish a loss that could threaten their playoff chances would make up for everything that has gone wrong for them. That’s why the Irish will need to prepare for them like they would for any ranked team, and the talent they have should allow them to emerge victorious.

Here are the major statistical leaders the Irish are taking into their regular-season finale. Not all of them will be available, but they’re fun to see nonetheless:

Notre Dame vs. Virginia: Fourth-Quarter Analysis

This quarter was uneventful, but that’s OK with the win.

Notre Dame didn’t need to do anything fancy to close out Virginia. Never mind that it failed to score on fourth-and-goal to cap a lengthy drive that began in the third quarter. It already had done enough to secure a 35-14 victory, which featured Tony Muskett running for a garbage-time touchdown.

Even though [autotag]Zac Yoakum[/autotag] capped another long drive by missing a 36-yard field goal, hardly anybody at Notre Dame Stadium cared at that point. The Irish were going to cap their home season with another victory. At least for the moment, the loss to Northern Illinois that happened there in September felt like a distant memory.

Obviously, Irish fans aren’t going to forget about that defeat to the Huskies entirely because it still threatens to derail their team’s chances at the College Football Playoff.

The focus now was on the seniors playing perhaps their final game in South Bend. It never is easy for Irish fans to say goodbye to those players, but all good things must end. If this is it for them at home, it was a nice way to go out.

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Notre Dame vs. Virginia: Second-Quarter Analysis

This quarter lasted over an hour and was quite crazy.

If you were hoping for more action between Notre Dame and Virginia in the second quarter, you would have gotten some. In a quarter that lasted over an hour in real time, the Irish had one crazy moment after another, and it ended with them holding a 28-0 halftime lead.

Both teams continued to struggle offensively for the first few minutes. After [autotag]Max Hurleman[/autotag] muffed a punt and the Cavaliers recovered, the Irish’s 7-0 lead appeared to be in jeopardy. But the Irish took the ball right back a few plays later when [autotag]Rod Heard II[/autotag] forced a Kobe Pace fumble that was recovered by [autotag]Xavier Watts[/autotag].

The difference between the two turnovers is that the Irish took advantage. Their offense had its most productive drive of the day, and it culminated when [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag] hit [autotag]Jayden Harrison[/autotag] for an 8-yard touchdown.

On the next possession, Leonard fired another apparent touchdown pass to Harrison from 78 yards out, but it was wiped out when [autotag]Pat Coogan[/autotag] was penalized for illegal hands to the face.

Another apparent touchdown then was wiped out after a very confusing sequence. Faced with fourth-and-11, the Irish opted to fake a punt and try a fumblerooski, and [autotag]Jordan Faison[/autotag] ran the ball 73 yards to the house. However, the officials called it back for illegal formation, much to the chagrin of the Notre Dame Stadium fans and the NBC announcers.

But that touchdown was dying to be scored, and it finally was after [autotag]Adon Shuler[/autotag] returned an interception 46 yards and Leonard immediately faked a handoff before firing to an open [autotag]Cooper Flanagan[/autotag] in the end zone from 2 yards out.

The Irish weren’t finished though. Anthony Colandrea threw another interception, this one to [autotag]Leonard Moore[/autotag]. On the final of three subsequent passes, [autotag]Mitchell Evans[/autotag] had a 16-yard touchdown.

Colandrea kept feeling generous though because Watts picked off another one of his passes in the waning seconds of the quarter. Although [autotag]Mitch Jeter[/autotag] missed a 54-yard field goal as time expired, the Irish still deserved a rest in the locker room after everything that had just happened.

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Notre Dame-Stanford game delayed by lightning around South Bend

We’re on pause, folks.

Notre Dame was leading Stanford, 42-7, after three quarters. The expectation was that the Irish would breeze through the fourth quarter with backups and enjoy another victory. All of that has been put on hold.

Just as the fourth quarter was about to begin, an announcement was made at Notre Dame Stadium that lightning had been spotted within a 10-mile radius of South Bend. That meant the game was delayed, and the stands had to be evacuated so that fans could seek shelter.

The policy is that a game must be paused if lightning is spotted within 10 miles of the stadium. For each additional lightning strike, an additional 30 minutes are added to the delay.

This obviously isn’t what anyone wanted, but the safety of everyone at the stadium is paramount. The good news is there are plenty of places on campus that are opening their doors to fans to wait the delay out, which is the right thing to do:

Hopefully, we’ll be back for the conclusion of this one very soon.

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