Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football History
From the Four Horsemen to the Gipper to Rudy to "Theismann for Heisman," Notre Dame has provided? plenty of memorable football moments. The school holds 11 national championships in football, but that doesn't begin to measure the shadow the Irish cast across the game. It started with Knute Rockne, who coached from 1918 to 1930 and lost only 12 games in that span. Rockne delivered the famous halftime speech in which he invoked the deathbed plea of a former player, George Gipp, to "win one for the Gipper." There was 1966’s "Game of the Century," in which the 9-0 Irish, under coach Ara Parseghian, played the 9-0 Michigan State Spartans to a 10-10 tie.?
Notre Dame has had seven Heisman Trophy winners, including Paul Hornung, Johnny Lujack and the team’s most recent recipient Tim Brown, who became the first wide receiver to be awarded. More unforgettable moments from Fighting Irish alumni include Joe Montana and the Chicken Soup Game and Tony Rice running the option offense all the way to a national championship in 1988.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football Team Info
Conference: Independent
Team Colors: Blue, Gold
Team Rivals: USC Trojans, Navy Midshipmen, Michigan Wolverines, MSU Spartans
University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football at Notre Dame Stadium
Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana was designed by the same firm, Osborn Engineering, that designed the original Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park. It was built in 1930. Watching over the proceedings is Touchdown Jesus, the nickname given to the mural — Millard Sheets' The Word of Life — on the nearby Hesburgh Library.
