2017 Notre Dame Schedule: 10 Notes
Other than temporarily halting its Shamrock Series tradition that began in 2009, Notre Dame’s 2017 football schedule fits everything the administration and coaching staff would want.
Sept. 2 Temple (10-4)
Sept. 9 Georgia (8-5)
Sept. 16 at Boston College (7-6)
Sept. 23 at Michigan State (3-9)
Sept. 30 Miami (Ohio) (6-7)
Oct. 7 at North Carolina (8-5)
Oct. 21 USC (10-3)
Oct. 28 North Carolina State (7-6)
Nov. 4 Wake Forest (7-6)
Nov. 11 at Miami (9-4)
Nov. 18 Navy (9-5)
Nov. 25 at Stanford (10-3)
1. Seven Home Games.
This is a first since head coach Brian Kelly’s inaugural campaign in 2010. It will be only the seventh overall at Notre Dame, with the first occurring in 1988, its most recent national title.
The other five were 1999 (5-7), 2006 (10-3), 2007 (3-9), 2009 (6-6) and 2010 (8-5).
The Fighting Irish were 2-4 at home last year while suffering more defeats in Notre Dame Stadium than the four previous years combined. From 2012-15 under Kelly, Notre Dame had a 21-3 home record (.875), including unbeaten in 2012 and 2015. In the 22 seasons from 1990-2011, the Irish were unblemished at home only once (1998).
2. No Shamrock Series this year.
This is a first since 2008. The reason given this year is in part because of the completion of the Campus Crossroads project, so the company line is to maximize the opportunity for Irish fans to attend a seventh home game.
Notre Dame vice president/director of athletics Jack Swarbrick has stated he wants to restore the Shamrock Series in 2018 and beyond but that it be more “opponent driven” to gain better appeal. However, the options seem limited because you don’t want to be moving scheduled home contests with foes such as Michigan, USC or Florida State to off-site venues.
The Shamrock Series as a yearly event might have run its course, with 2017 the start.
3. Six different conferences are represented, including four from the “Power Five.”
Five ACC teams are a given with Notre Dame’s partial membership in football. Particularly gratifying to Swarbrick was landing an SEC opponent (Georgia) for the first time since Tennessee in a 2004-05, home and home.
There is also the 2015 Big Ten champ (Michigan State), Pac 12 powers USC and Stanford, plus the AAC (formerly the Big East from 1979-2013) with Temple and Navy. Then there is the MAC with Miami (Ohio), a school renowned as “The Cradle of Coaches,” including Notre Dame’s Ara Parsghian (1964-74).
The lone Power Five league not represented is the Big XII, although the Irish did play Texas in 2015-16 and Oklahoma in 2012-13.
4. For the fourth time since 2009, the game with USC at home will have a bye week.
It is not simple to fashion the schedule that way, but it has been manipulated well. The Irish still lost in 2009 and 2011, eked out a 14-10 win in 2013 and in 2015 rallied to victory in the fourth quarter (41-31).
Maybe more pertinent is the bye week continues to come in the middle of the season, and Kelly has stated that is the ideal time with fall semester break for the players to catch their second wind.
5. Temple will be the opener for the second time in five years.
The Irish began the 2013 campaign with a 28-6 win versus the Owls. That was head coach Matt Rhule’s first season at Temple, resulting in a 2-10 record.
After leading the Owls to consecutive 10-win seasons in 2015-16, Rhule accepted the Baylor position. Thus, Temple will have a first-team head coach again in Geoff Collins, the former defensive coordinator at Florida.
6. Georgia, Miami (Ohio) and North Carolina State all will be first-time visitors to Notre Dame Stadium.
• The lone meeting with the Bulldogs was the 17-10 loss in the 1981 Sugar Bowl that won them their lone national title. Notre Dame out-gained Georgia 328-127 in total yardage but was plagued by turnovers.
• North Carolina State’s first meeting with Notre Dame also was in a bowl, a 28-6 thumping of the Irish in the 2003 Gator Bowl that capped the “Return to Glory” campaign for the 10-3 Irish. The first regular season meeting between the two was at Raleigh last year, a 10-3 victory by the Wolfpack amidst Hurricane Matthew.
• The one previous meeting with Miami (Ohio) was a 46-0 Notre Dame win in 1909, when the unbeaten season was highlighted by the first win over Michigan in nine tries.
7. Remember when Notre Dame was scheduled to open the 1997 season in its newly expanded stadium against Miami (Ohio)?
That was cancelled 20 years ago to get a bigger name opponent (Georgia Tech) for the dedication. To placate Miami, Notre Dame scheduled a men’s basketball series with them.
Twenty years later in another refurbished Notre Dame Stadium, the RedHawks will make their debut in the venue. The current head coach for Miami (Ohio) is 2010-13 Notre Dame assistant Chuck Martin, who has improved from 2-10 to 3-9 to 6-7 the past three seasons, with the latter culminating in a last-second loss to Mississippi State in the St. Petersburg Bowl.
8. Notre Dame returns to Miami (Hard Rock Stadium) for the first time since…
The 42-14 loss to Alabama in the national title showdown in January 2013. Back then it was known as Sun Life Stadium.
Notre Dame has not vanquished Miami on the Hurricanes’ home field since winning the national title in 1977.
9. It will be the first time Notre Dame plays three teams from the same state since 2007.
The Irish travel to Chapel Hill to face the North Carolina Tar Heels, and will host North Carolina State and Wake Forest.
During the 3-9 debacle in 2007, Notre Dame played three teams from California: USC, UCLA and Stanford — and won two of them: at UCLA (20-6) and at Stanford (21-14).
10. Notre Dame will attempt to end a four-game losing streak at Stanford.
The only other longer losing streaks since 1964 at one venue were seven straight at USC from 1970-82 and five in a row at Miami from 1981-89.
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