Best Notre Dame Comebacks From An 0-1 Beginning

From 1900 through 1975, Notre Dame lost only three opening games: 1934 (at home to Texas, oddly enough), at SMU in 1956 and at home in 1963 to Wisconsin.

Since 1976, though, it has lost 11 season openers in the past 41 years, most notably the 50-47 double-overtime setback at Texas this past weekend.

How has Notre Dame bounced back from being 0-1?

It’s a mixed bag, but it’s never finished higher than No. 7 in the final Associated Press poll. Eclipsing that feat would be a realistic goal to shoot for this season. Last year Stanford had a miserable opener with a 16-6 loss at Northwestern — and then had its best finish in the AP poll (No. 3) since 1940.

We rank the 10 seasons Notre Dame had since 1976 after losing the debut.

1. 1978: 9-3, No. 7 AP Finish

The defending national champs not only lost the opener at home to Missouri (3-0) but also the ensuing game at home to Michigan (28-14) to become only the second team ever at Notre Dame to begin 0-2.

Playing the nation’s No. 1 schedule, the Joe Montana-led Irish won eight straight before losing a controversial 27-25 contest at co-national champ USC. The year was capped with a miraculous 35-34 win versus Houston in the Cotton Bowl. It’s the lone season the Irish lost the opener but still won a major bowl and finished in the Top 10. A repeat in 2016 is needed.

2. 1995: 9-3, No. 11 AP Finish

Lou Holtz’s Irish were shocked by four-touchdown underdog Northwestern at home in the opener, 17-15, but the Wildcats went on to win the Big Ten that season.

Notre Dame went 9-1 the rest of the regular season, highlighted by wins versus Texas (55-27), at Washington (29-21) and clobbering No. 5 USC (38-10) before losing a 26-14 fourth-quarter lead in the Orange Bowl to Florida State in a 31-26 defeat. Texas and USC ended up winning their conference titles.

3. 1976: 9-3, No. 12 AP Finish

Head coach Dan Devine came under heavy fire in his second year by losing a Notre Dame opener for the first time in 13 years by a 31-10 score at home — but it came versus a Pitt team that would win the national title. Two of Notre Dame's three defeats this year were to No. 1 and No. 2 (17-13 at USC).

Any season where you defeat Bear Bryant’s Alabama Crimson Tide (21-18) and Joe Paterno’s Penn State Nittany Lions in the Gator Bowl (20-9), as the Irish did 40 years ago, can’t be too bad.

4. 1984: 7-5

One year after crushing Purdue 52-6 in the opener, the Irish lost to the Boilermakers, 23-21 (sort of like beating Texas 38-3 one year and then losing the next).

Head coach Gerry Faust’s Irish stumbled to a 3-4 start before then upsetting No. 6 and SEC champ LSU on the road, demolishing Penn State 44-7 and then winning at Pac-10 and Rose Bowl champ USC (19-7) for the first time in 18 years. Notre Dame rose to No. 17 with a 7-4 record before losing to No. 10 SMU in the Aloha Bowl, 27-20.

5. 1986: 5-6

Maybe the greatest 5-6 season in college football annals, first-year head coach Lou Holtz debuted with a 24-23 loss in the closing seconds to Big Ten champ Michigan. The Irish lost five games by 14 total points (plus at Alabama), including 24-19 to national champ Penn State and 21-19 at SEC champ LSU.

A thrilling 38-37 victory at USC after trailing 37-20 in the fourth quarter ended the campaign and set the table for future glory.

6. 2011: 8-5

Brian Kelly’s second Notre Dame team had five turnovers apiece in mind-numbing 23-20 and 35-31 losses to South Florida and at Michigan, respectively, to open the season.

The Irish cobbled together eight wins, but finished in frustration again after blowing a 14-0 second-half lead in the Champs Sports Bowl and losing 18-14 to Florida State.

7. 2004: 6-6

Head coach Tyrone Willingham’s third and final season with the Irish began with a 20-17 loss at BYU. Notre Dame upset No. 8 Michigan the next week and also would win at No. 9 Tennessee, but maddening inconsistency and poor recruiting led to his ouster.

8. 1985: 5-6

Faust’s fifth and final season began with a competitive 20-12 loss at a Michigan program that would finish No. 2 in the country. But a fourth straight loss to Air Force to drop to 1-3 probably sealed his fate before finishing with a three-game losing streak at Penn State (36-6), LSU (10-7) and Miami (58-7)

9. 2001: 5-6

The first Notre Dame team to begin 0-3, opening with a 27-10 defeat at Nebraska, followed by a 17-10 setback at home to Michigan State and a 24-3 loss at Texas A&M. It became a season-long countdown of Bob Davie’s final season at Notre Dame after signing a five-year extension less than a year earlier.

10. 2007: 3-9

The mother of all implosions at Notre Dame. Third-year head coach Charlie Weis commenced with a 33-3 loss at home to Georgia Tech that made him “want to vomit.” It just got uglier and uglier during an unprecedented 1-9 start, including 38-0 whitewashes against both Michigan and USC, and back-to-back home defeats versus Navy (the first in 44 tries) and Air Force.

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