Notre Dame vs California Series History
On Saturday in Notre Dame Stadium, Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish will attempt to get the 2022 season back on track and secure Freeman’s first career victory as a head coach.
It won’t be easy though, as Notre Dame has been wildly inconsistent on both sides of the ball throughout the first two games (especially on offense), and Cal is a physical football team led by one of the top defensive minds in college football in Justin Wilcox.
NOTRE DAME VS CAL SERIES HISTORY
Notre Dame has not faced California since the 1967 season, and the Irish hold a 4-0 series advantage over the Golden Bears. The closest that Cal was able to keep the game in any of the four matchups was 14 points in 1960, when the Golden Bears were led by future NFL Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy. Cal has never scored more than 8 points against the Irish, a streak which hopefully continues into this weekend.
There is one strange nugget looking back at the results of this series. Despite dominating the Golden Bears in all prior matchups, the Irish went on to lose the following week in all four years.
NOTRE DAME VS CAL SERIES RESULTS
1967 – Notre Dame 41 Cal 8
1965 – Notre Dame 48 Cal 6
1960 – Notre Dame 21 Cal 7
1959 – Notre Dame 28 Cal 6
NOTABLE GAMES
1959 / 1960 – The 1959 and 1960 seasons were forgettable for Notre Dame fans. Under head coach Joe Kuharich, the Irish went 5-5 in 1959 and then dropped to 2-8 in 1960. In both seasons, the victory over Cal was one of the highlights for the Irish squad. After beating Cal in 1959, Notre Dame would go on to drop back-to-back games against Michigan State and Northwestern, who was ranked #2 in the country at the time of the game and was led by future Fighting Irish coach Ara Parseghian. In 1960, after beating Cal 21-7 in the opener, Notre Dame would lose eight straight games before shutting out USC 17-0 in the season finale.
1965 – One year after Ara Parseghian’s magical 1964 season restored the glory of the Notre Dame program, the Fighting Irish opened at California. Led by the running back trio of Larry Conjar, Nick Eddy, and Bill Wolski, the Irish blew out California 48-6. The Notre Dame defense also got off to a great start in this game and would rank 4th in the nation at the end of the year allowing just 7.3 PPG. Notre Dame moved to #1 in the AP poll following the game but lost 25-21 the following week at #6 Purdue. The Irish ultimately finished 7-2-1, also losing at home to #1 Michigan State and tying Miami (FL) 0-0 in the season finale.
1967 – Coming off the 1966 national title, Notre Dame opened the 1967 season ranked #1 in the country and hosting Cal. The Fighting Irish, behind the right arm of Terry Hanratty, got off to a great start, knocking off Cal 41-8. However, Notre Dame lost 28-21 the following weekend at #10 Purdue, and after a victory against Iowa, lost 24-7 to #1 USC. However, the Irish closed the season with six straight victories and an 8-2 overall record, finishing #5 in the final AP poll.
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