Notre Dame Football's Bye Week Facts And Figures
The bye week is here for Notre Dame football. Historically speaking, or at least in recent history, the bye week has been good to the Fighting Irish. Here’s a look at some recent bye week facts and figures for the Irish:
Going Into The Bye Week
Brian Kelly’s first season at Notre Dame was in 2010. Including last week’s 45-32 win over North Carolina, the Irish are now 13-2 since that season going into their bye weeks. Kelly (infamously) lost his first game going into a bye 28-27 to Tulsa in 2010. His only other pre-bye week loss was a 17-10 setback to Stanford in 2016. He won his final seven games before a bye.
Double Byes
Notre Dame actually had two seasons in recent years where it had multiple bye weeks in the same season, and they came in back to back years. The Irish opened the 2019 season with a win at Louisville on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 2 and then did not play again until Saturday, Sept. 14 when they beat New Mexico 66-14. Later that season, they beat USC on Oct. 12 going into their second bye, but lost to Michigan 45-14 coming out of the bye two weeks later.
The 2020 season had multiple off weeks as well, due to the pandemic. The Irish beat South Florida 52-0 on Sept. 19 and then had two weeks off before beating Florida State 42-26 on Oct. 10. Later that season, they beat Boston College on Nov. 14, had the next week off and then beat North Carolina on Nov. 27.
Coming Out Of The Bye
Notre Dame has only lost twice after a bye week since 2010. The first loss was a 31-17 defeat to Lane Kiffin’s USC Trojans in 2011. The only other loss after a bye week for the Irish since 2010 was the aforementioned loss to Michigan in the rain in 2019.
Most Common Bye Week Foe
With nearly 90 all-time meeting with Southern Cal, the Trojans are one of Notre Dame’s most common opponents going into and coming out of bye weeks. The Irish beat USC going into byes in October in 2015 and 2019. Notre Dame has also played the Trojans four times in their first game after a bye in 2011, 2013, 2017, and 2021. Notre Dame is 3-1 in those four meetings.
Miami is Notre Dame’s only other repeat foe following a bye since 2010. The Irish beat them in 2012 and 2016.
North Carolina is the only other repeat opponent going into a bye in that 13-season stretch. The Irish beat the Tar Heels before their 2017 and 2022 bye weeks.
The Hectic Post-Bye Run
The 2018 season saw Notre Dame beat Pittsburgh 19-14 on Oct. 13 before the bye. They traveled to San Diego on Oct. 27 to beat Navy 44-22 coming out of the bye. They followed that with a Nov. 3 win over Northwestern in Chicagoland, a Nov. 10 home win over Florida State, a Nov. 17 win over Syracuse at Yankee Stadium in New York, and a regular season finale win over USC in the Los Angeles Coliseum.
Overall Post-Bye Success
In addition to the 12-2 record Notre Dame sports in the week immediately following a bye, the Irish have done very well overall for the remainder of a season after their bye weeks. They have only had a losing record twice (2014 and 2016) after their bye since 2010. They were 6-0 after their bye last season (not including the Fiesta Bowl) and have gone 22-3 overall in the regular season after their bye since 2017 (that record is after their second bye in the two mentioned seasons when they had multiple off weeks).
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