Next meeting November 3, 2018 | Meetings total 48 | |
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First meeting November 14, 1889
Notre Dame 9, Northwestern 0 Latest meeting November 15, 2014
Northwestern 43, #18 Notre Dame 40 All-time series Notre Dame leads, 37–9–2 Largest victory Notre Dame, 48–0 (1976) | ||
The Northwestern–Notre Dame football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Northwestern Wildcats and Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
History
Starting in the 1920s, Northwestern and Notre Dame played for a Shillelagh until the mid-1970s. The trophy game was created at the behest of Notre Dame head coach Knute Rockne, who wanted a rivalry in the Chicago metropolitan area to help build Notre Dame's fanbase there.
They stopped playing regularly in the 1970s, though the rivalry was renewed from 1992 to 1995. When Northwestern stunned #8 Notre Dame 17–15 as a 28-point underdog in 1995, the Chicago Sun-Times billed it as the "Upset of the Century."
In 2014, the rivalry was renewed in a two-game series, with Northwestern winning 43–40 in OT in South Bend. It gave Northwestern only their second winning streak against the Irish since they won four straight from 1959–62. Notre Dame is scheduled to travel to Evanston in 2018. Notre Dame leads the series 37–9–2.