Tag: postseason

Notre Dame football is steeped in nostalgia. The Fighting Irish were the first truly national program, dating back to the 1920s when New York Herald Tribune sportswriter Grantland Rice dubbed Notre Dame’s backfield the “Four Horsemen.” They had fans across the country, most of whom were so-called subway alumni, meaning they didn’t graduate from the University but still followed the football team religiously.

While Notre Dame continues to embrace its history, the Fighting Irish are not just stuck in the past. Instead, the school has invested heavily in football, signing coach Marcus Freeman this month to a lucrative contract extension, upgrading its facilities, adding transfers who meet its qualifications, embracing Name, Image and Likeness and committing to spend most of the $20.5 million in revenue sharing from the expected House settlement on football players.

Still, as No. 7 seed Notre Dame (12-1) prepares to face No. 2 seed Georgia (11-2) on Wednesday night in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal in New Orleans, the Fighting Irish can’t escape its three decades long futility in major postseason games. Yes, Notre Dame defeated Indiana, 27-17, in the CFP opener on Dec. 20. But despite their success this season, the Hoosiers are historically a weak program that has lost the most games in Division 1 history.

The last time Notre Dame has won a significant postseason game? That occurred on Jan. 1, 1994, when the No. 4 Fighting Irish defeated No. 7 Texas A&M, 24-21, in the Cotton Bowl. Notre Dame finished the season with an 11-1 record and second in the Associated Press poll behind Florida State, a team the Fighting Irish had defeated that season in what was billed as the Game of the Century. But the voters penalized Notre Dame for losing, 41-39, to Boston College in the regular season finale and kept Florida State atop the poll after the Seminoles defeated previously unbeaten Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. Florida State finished first in the coaches’ poll, as well, making the Seminoles the unanimous national champion.

“I was very disappointed that it wasn’t a split poll,” Skip Holtz, Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator that year, told me in 2014. “It’s hard to say Florida State didn’t deserve it, but I think it’s awfully tough to make the argument that Notre Dame didn’t deserve a share of it when we won head-to-head.”

During the past 31 years, Notre Dame has gone winless in its 10 major bowl and postseason games, including a 42-14 loss to Alabama in the national title game in January 2013, a 30-3 loss to Clemson in the CFP semifinals in December 2018 and a 31-14 loss to Alabama in the CFP semifinals in January 2021. Most of those losses have been blowouts, including 41-9 to Oregon State in the 2001 Fiesta Bowl and 41-14 to LSU in the 2007 Sugar Bowl. Bob Davie and Charlie Weis, Notre Dame’s coaches in those games, didn’t last much longer and were fired after disappointing tenures. Tyrone Willingham, who replaced Davie in 2002, was also fired.

Brian Kelly, who replaced Weis after the 2009 season, brought back some consistency to the program. During Kelly’s 12 seasons, he surpassed Knute Rockne for the most victories (113) for a Notre Dame coach. The Fighting Irish won at least 10 games and finished in the top 12 of the Associated Press poll in each of Kelly’s final five seasons before he departed for LSU after the 2021 season.

Marcus Freeman, Kelly’s replacement, coached his first game in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1, 2022. At halftime, the Fighting Irish led Oklahoma State by 14 points, but they ended up losing, 37-35, extending their streak in major postseason games.

Now in his third season, Freeman has Notre Dame in position to put an end to the futility. Since losing to Northern Illinois in early September, the Fighting Irish have won 11 consecutive games. Notre Dame has outscored its opponents by an average of 25 points per game, the largest margin in Football Bowl Subdivision. The Fighting Irish rank fourth in the nation in scoring offense (38.8 points per game) and third in defense (13.8 points per game).

If the Fighting Irish defeat Georgia, they will have a school-record 13 victories. More importantly, they will have advanced to the CFP semifinals, where they will face Penn State or Boise State in Miami on Jan. 9. They will also have a shot at winning the program’s first national title since 1988.

Still, Notre Dame is not getting ahead of itself. While Georgia is a slight one-point favorite on Wednesday, has lost two games this season and lost starting quarterback Carson Beck with a season-ending injury, the Bulldogs have had more success than any program in recent years. Georgia won national titles in the 2021 and 2022 seasons and lost just once last season. The Bulldogs are accustomed to winning these big games.

“(Georgia) has made the journey that we’re trying to make,” Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden said at a recent press conference. “They made that climb. If there’s any side note, that would be it — that we have to learn how to do this, how to go into these environments and execute at a really high level, regardless of the circumstance and regardless of in this case who we’re playing. It’s always going to be about us and how we execute and how we prepare. That will be no different here this week.”