Ranking the 15 Greatest Games Ever Played at Notre Dame Stadium

The dome on the main building at Notre Dame was first covered in gold leaf in 1886. The “Touchdown Jesus” mural was mounted on the school library in 1964. Between those two campus landmark events, Notre Dame Stadium opened in 1930.

A lot has happened in that stadium in the near-century since.

With No. 1 Miami coming to South Bend on Saturday, the opportunity arrives for another big moment in the lore of an iconic American stadium. In preparation, here’s a countdown of the 15 most memorable games played in Notre Dame Stadium:

15. Nov. 14, 1992: No. 8 Notre Dame 17, No. 22 Penn State 16

A last-minute victory in near-blizzard conditions

Two years earlier, the No. 18 Nittany Lions stunned No. 1 Notre Dame, 24–21, on a field goal with four seconds left. This was the payback, in a game that became known as “The Snow Bowl.” Irish quarterback Rick Mirer threw a fourth-down touchdown pass to Jerome Bettis with 20 seconds left to make it 16–15, then completed a scrambling two-point conversion pass to Reggie Brooks for the win. Notre Dame finished the season 10-1-1 and ranked No. 4.

14. Sept. 7, 2024: Northern Illinois 16, No. 5 Notre Dame 14

The biggest upset in stadium history

Northern Illinois offensive lineman Abiathar Curry celebrates after beating Notre Dame in 2024. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

A 28-point underdog, on its way to a sixth-place finish in the Mid-American Conference, inconceivably beat a team that wound up playing in the College Football Playoff championship game. Huskies running back Antario Brown earned a prominent spot in the history of unlikely Irish killers with 225 yards from scrimmage. After enduring the initial blowback, a still largely unproven Marcus Freeman later credited the stunning loss with being the catalyst for his team’s playoff run and a 14–2 season.

13. Sept. 20, 1980: No. 8 Notre Dame 29, No. 14 Michigan 27

A student in jeans and a plaid shirt got the memory of a lifetime when he caught Harry Oliver’s 51-yard field goal after it just nudged over the crossbar on the final play to win this game, igniting a field storm. There weren’t a lot of 51-yard field goals in college football back in that day, much less game-winners, much less one from a kicker who missed an extra point earlier in the day. “This could only happen here,” said Notre Dame defensive end Pat Kramer.

12. Sept. 9, 2000: No. 1 Nebraska 27, No. 23 Notre Dame 24 (OT)

The first on-campus meeting between the two super powers since 1948 lived up to the billing, with the underdog Irish scoring on a 100-yard kickoff return and an 83-yard punt return to give them a shot at winning a shocker. But the Cornhuskers pulled it out behind the running of quarterback Eric Crouch, who would win the Heisman Trophy the next season. The Huskers stayed No. 1 until being knocked off by Oklahoma in late October.

11. Oct. 13, 2012: No. 7 Notre Dame 20, No. 17 Stanford 13 (OT)

Notre Dame wide receiver TJ Jones celebrates after a touchdown catch in overtime against Stanford in 2012. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Cardinal had four plays inside the Irish 5-yard line to extend the game to a second overtime. Deep into its Intellectual Brutality Era, Stanford called on Stepfan Taylor—still the school’s all-time leading rusher—to slam up the middle four straight times. With linebacker Manti Te’o leading the charge, Taylor was repulsed short of the goal line every time (some Stanford fans will argue that he reached the ball across on fourth down). That victory highlighted a 12–0 regular season and berth in the BCS championship game, where the Irish were crushed by Alabama.

10. Sept. 9, 2017: No. 15 Georgia 20, No. 24 Notre Dame 19

The Bulldogs’ first and only visit to South Bend put big splashes of red in the stadium, with thousands of fans making what they described as a bucket-list trip. They weren’t disappointed, with an outcome that helped propel Georgia toward its first College Football Playoff championship game appearance. It was a tautly played contest throughout, which neither team led by more than a touchdown. The winning points came on a 30-yard Rodrigo Blankenship field goal with 3:34 left, with Notre Dame’s subsequent two drives going nowhere.

9. Nov. 7, 2020: No. 4 Notre Dame 47, No. 1 Clemson 40 (2OT)

Notre Dame running back Kyren Williams celebrates with offensive lineman Robert Hainsey. — Notre Dame running back Kyren Williams celebrates with offensive lineman Robert Hainsey after a touchdown in the first overtime against Clemson in 2020. | USA TODAY Sports

The listed attendance for this pandemic era game was 11,011. By the end of the night, nearly all of them wound up on the field after the marathon shootout. In a game littered with future NFL standouts on both sides, the best player was Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, started in place of the injured Trevor Lawrence and threw for 439 yards. He looked like a future star at the time, but it turned out to be the high-water mark of a dwindling career. Running back Kyren Williams scored three times for Notre Dame, including both overtime touchdowns. Clemson got its revenge with Lawrence in the lineup in the ACC title game. Both made the four-team playoff.

8. Oct. 24, 1953: No. 1 Notre Dame 27, No. 4 Georgia Tech 14

The Irish ended the nation’s longest unbeaten streak at 31 games, but this was one of the most unsettling big wins in Irish history. Coming into the game not feeling well, legendary coach Frank Leahy “lapsed into semi-consciousness” at halftime. Fearing he’d had a heart attack, a priest (who was the Notre Dame vice president) administered last rites to Leahy in the locker room before he was rushed to the hospital. Assistant coaches took over for the second half, and Leahy turned out to be O.K. after the scare. A month later, the Irish were tied at home by Iowa, 14–14, scoring in the final seconds to pull out a tie. That was enough to drop Notre Dame to No. 2 in the polls, elevating Maryland to No. 1 and the eventual national championship. Leahy retired after the season.

7. Nov. 20, 1943: No. 1 Notre Dame 14, No. 2 Iowa Pre-Flight 13

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You think old players and former pros showing up in college lineups is a 2026 thing? Oh no, we’ve been there before. During World War II, military training schools found themselves flush with football talent and fielded powerful teams. Such was the case with Iowa Pre-Flight, which had a handful of NFL players on the roster and a 32-year-old quarterback, Art Guepe. He’d been a star at Marquette in the mid-1930s and became a college coach before serving in the Navy. Notre Dame pulled out the win and went on to the national championship, despite losing to another military training school, Great Lakes Navy, the following week. Quarterback Angelo Bertelli became the first Irish Heisman winner.

6. Dec. 20, 2024: No. 5 Notre Dame 27, No. 8 Indiana 17

The first on-campus playoff game in FBS history unfolded amid a dreamscape, after a blanket of snow covered the campus. The game was less artistic than the surroundings—the Irish defense strangled upstart Indiana, which was a season away from full arrival as a power. Running back Jeremiyah Love got Notre Dame off to an electrifying start with a 98-yard touchdown run in the first five minutes, longest in stadium history, as the home team inexorably built a 27–3 lead. The game was the launching pad for the Irish run to the CFP title game, where they eventually lost to Ohio State.

5. Nov. 13, 1993: No. 2 Notre Dame 31, No. 1 Florida State 24

The Nov. 22, 1993, Sports Illustrated cover highlighting Notre Dame’s win over Florida State. | John Biever/Sports Illustrated

This was a high-level collision anticipated for weeks. Led by eventual Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward, the Seminoles were on top of the polls all season heading into this game, while the Irish rose to No. 2 with nine straight victories. The hype was thick enough that ESPN relocated its College GameDay show to a campus location for the first time. Notre Dame controlled the game until Ward led a desperation rally in the final minutes, completing a fourth-and-20 touchdown pass to pull within one score and then mounting a final drive. Irish defensive back Shawn Wooden knocked down a Ward pass at the goal line on the final play to end it. However, a Notre Dame upset loss at Boston College the following week controversially elevated the Seminoles back to No. 1, and they went on to win their first national championship.

4. Oct. 27, 1973: No. 8 Notre Dame 23, No. 6 USC 14

The Nov. 5, 1973 Sports Illustrated cover featuring Anthony Davis getting tackled by Notre Dame. | Heinz Kluetmeier/Sports Illustrated

Let the record show that Trojans tailback Anthony Davis did have a junior year. Between torturing the Irish in Los Angeles as a sophomore (six touchdowns) and as a senior (four touchdowns), he was held in check in this game, scoring just once. The running star turned out to be Notre Dame’s Eric Penick, who broke an 85-yard TD run early in the third quarter for an insurmountable lead. How much did it mean for the Irish, who hadn’t beaten USC since 1966? The game ended with the players carrying Ara Parseghian off the field on their shoulders as he held a game ball aloft over his head, tears in his eyes. Notre Dame was on its way to a perfect season and a national title, winning an all-time classic Sugar Bowl over Bear Bryant and Alabama.

3. Oct. 15, 2005: No. 1 USC 34, No. 9 Notre Dame 31

The Bush Push Game

An aerial view of USC QB Matt Leinart scoring the game-winning touchdown against Notre Dame in 2005. | Bill Frakes/Sports Illustrated

There actually was a moment in time where it looked like Charlie Weis would be Notre Dame’s next great coach. That moment was this day, Weis’s sixth game as head coach, when the Irish came within a Reggie Bush shove of Matt Leinart of ending the two-time reigning national champions’ winning streak at 27 games. After a Brady Quinn touchdown run, Notre Dame led 31–28 in the final two minutes. Facing a fourth-and-9 from their own 26, the Trojans quarterback threw a short pass to Dwayne Jarrett, who raced 61 yards to put USC in scoring range. The last sequence was chaotic, with a Leinart fumble out of bounds being placed at the 2-yard line and USC trying to call a timeout it didn’t have and the scoreboard operator letting the clock prematurely run out, spurring a student field storm. After the field was cleared and one second was put on the clock, Leinart attempted a sneak for the win. He was stood up, but Bush pushed him across the goal line (at the time, an illegal play). USC kept marching toward a potential three-peat before running into Vince Young and Texas in a classic championship game.

2. Oct. 22, 1977: No. 11 Notre Dame 49, No. 5 USC 19

The original green jersey game

The home team had all kinds of hijinks planned for the visitors. The appetizer: The student body wheeled a large, homemade wooden horse onto the field before the game—a Trojan Horse, naturally—then opened a compartment to disgorge the leprechaun mascot and several students dressed in Notre Dame uniforms. The main course: After warming up their traditional blue jerseys, the Irish returned to the locker room and came back wearing green for the first time since the 1950s. The energized Irish blasted USC, unlocking the potential in what had been an underachieving team up to that point. Still wearing the green jerseys, Notre Dame routed five of its next six opponents, including No. 1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl, to win the national title.

1. Oct. 15, 1988: No. 4 Notre Dame 31, No. 1 Miami 30

Catholics vs. Convicts

The Oct. 24, 1988 Sports Illustrated cover with Notre Dame QB Tony Rice throwing a pass against Miami’s Russell Maryland. | Bill Smith/Sports Illustrated

The clash of unbeaten powers and stylistic opposites spawned a famous T-shirt and an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary. The game carried cultural payload brought on by an unfair, overly simplistic preamble: white-hat Irish vs. black-hat Hurricanes. Miami was both the best program in the country and the biggest college football villain, having won 36 straight regular-season games. Notre Dame was in Year 3 under Lou Holtz, climbing back to national power status. A pregame brawl turned the intensity up to 11. Then the actual game—which has gotten lost in the mists of time and storylines—lived up to all the billing.

Notre Dame led most of the game, with Miami thrust into comeback predicaments on multiple occasions. The quarterbacks shined via different methods—Tony Rice running the option for the Irish and Steve Walsh throwing for 424 yards for the Hurricanes. There was officiating controversy—a Cleveland Gary non-fumble near the goal line that cost Miami a score, and an Andre Brown touchdown on a play where he did not appear to have control of the ball. In the end, Canes coach Jimmy Johnson did the sporting thing and went for two, trailing 31–30 in the final minute. (A callback to Nebraska’s Tom Osborne going for two against Miami with the national title on the line five years earlier, and losing by the exact score.) Defensive back Pat Terrell broke up the two-point conversion pass, Notre Dame won the game and continued on to its most recent national championship.

Footnote game: Nov. 16, 1929: Notre Dame 13, USC 12.

Notre Dame Stadium was being built that season, so the Irish moved their home games from Cartier Field on campus to Soldier Field in Chicago. The heavyweight showdown with the Trojans was witnessed by a crowd reported to be anywhere from 112,000 to 123,000. The victory highlighted Knute Rockne’s fourth undefeated season. He’d go 10–0 the next year before dying in a plane crash in Kansas.

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