Cal Football: Golden Bears to face Notre Dame at South Bend in 2022

Schools will meet for the first time since 1967 in single-game arrangement

The Golden Bears will visit the Golden Dome in 2022.

Cal will play at Notre Dame on Sept. 17, 2022, the first meeting between the schools on the football field since 1967.

"Our players and coaches look forward to playing in an iconic stadium and competing against a college football program with the rich tradition and history of Notre Dame," Cal coach Justin Wilcox said in a statement.

"Notre Dame Stadium has been home to some of college football's biggest games and greatest moments, and we are excited to give everyone involved with Cal football the opportunity to experience such a renowned place in our sport's history.”

The arrangement is for just one game, so there will be no visit by Notre Dame to Berkeley.

The Bears have played the Fighting Irish four times without a victory, and none of the games was close. The most recent meeting was a 41-8 home victory for the No. 1 Fighting Irish on Sept. 23, 1967.

Here are scores from the four meeting between Cal and Notre Dame:

Oct. 10, 1959 – Notre Dame 28, at Cal 6

Sept. 24, 1960 – at Notre Dame 21, Cal 7

Sept. 18, 1965 – No. 3 Notre Dame 48, at Cal 6

Sept. 23, 1967 – at No. 1 Notre Dame 41, Cal 8

Two of the previous four games between the two schools were played at South Bend, Ind. where Notre Dame is famous for the Golden Dome, which was added in 1882 to the top of the main campus building, sitting 197 feet above the ground, and for “Touchdown Jesus,” a mural/mosaic visible from Notre Dame Stadium on which Jesus appears to be signaling for six points.

Cal athletic director Jim Knowlton called Notre Dame Stadium “an iconic venue,” and said he anticipates a great crowd of Cal fans will travel to South Bend.

Ticket information for the game at Notre Dame will be announced at a later date.

Cal is coming off an 8-5 season, capped by four wins in its final five games with a 35-20 win over Illinois at the Redbox Bowl in Santa Clara.

Notre Dame posted an 11-2 record in 2019, beating USC and Stanford while losing only to Georgia and Michigan. The Fighting Irish have won at least 10 games each of the past three seasons, the first time they’ve achieved that since the early 1990s.

Cal opens the 2020 season on Aug. 29 against UNLV in the Raiders’ new stadium in Las Vegas. The Bears play their home opener next fall against TCU on Sept. 5.