Irish Echoes: Nebraska’s visit 100 years ago was a huge breakthrough for ND
A century ago this month, Notre Dame entered a new era in its football history, for the first time hosting a major, intersectional opponent in a game on campus at Cartier Field, when the University of Nebraska visited on Oct. 22, 1921.
Up until then, virtually all of the biggest games Notre Dame had played were contested away from home. Under Jesse Harper and then Knute Rockne, Notre Dame gained a reputation of being willing to play just about anyone, anywhere, anytime. In fact, the team became known as Rockne’s Ramblers for their penchant of traveling for big games at opposing campuses or neutral sites.
In 1913, Harper’s first as head coach, with Rockne as senior captain, the team made trips to Army, Penn State and Texas as part of its seven-game schedule. The next season, journeys to Yale and Syracuse tested the traveling legs of the Irish. And in 1915, the Fighting Irish began an annual series with the Nebraska Cornhuskers, with the first six games being played in Lincoln, including several epic Thanksgiving Day clashes to end the season.
By the start of the 1920s, Notre Dame had settled into something of a travel routine, with annual trips to West Point, N.Y., (700 miles to the east) and Lincoln (600 miles to the west) highlighting each season.
Meanwhile, the home-game opponents of those years, encompassing the Harper era and Rockne’s first three seasons as head coach, were:
1913 — Ohio Northern, South Dakota, Alma
1914 — Alma, Rose Poly, Haskell
1915 — Alma, Haskell, South Dakota
1916 — Case Tech, Haskell, Wabash, Alma
1917 — Kalamazoo, South Dakota, Michigan Agricultural
1918 — Great Lakes Naval
1919 — Kalamazoo, Mount Union, Western State, Michigan Agricultural
1920 — Kalamazoo, Western State, Valparaiso, Purdue
In the early years of the 20th century, it was not unusual for several of the major football powers to play nearly all their games at home. For instance, Amos Alonzo Stagg’s teams at the University of Chicago had a five-year stretch (1900-04) in which they played 66 of 73 games on their home field. The large crowds they could attract in Chicago make the games more lucrative for both teams. Only occasional trips to Ann Arbor, Mich., Madison, Wis., or Minneapolis interrupted the perpetual home stand.
Out East, Yale had a stretch of many years with only one road game among its eight to 10 contests, with a trip to either Harvard or Princeton the only break from its New Haven routine. Michigan’s Wolverines, especially in the years they were away from the Western Conference (1907-16), also were rarely road warriors. Nebraska, for its part, was only slightly more likely to travel, usually playing six of eight games in Lincoln.
There were questions over the ability of Notre Dame and South Bend to host a truly big game. Cartier Field lacked the capacity to create a payday suitable for drawing a big-name opponent. But Rockne leveraged his team’s on-field success to get more seating built at Cartier and arranged for the 1921 game with coach Fred Dawson’s Cornhuskers to be Notre Dame’s Homecoming.
The South Bend Tribune proclaimed: “Preparations are being made for the biggest event in the history of Notre Dame University with the arrival of hundreds of alumni in South Bend to take part in the homecoming celebration. … Representative student bodies met all incoming trains and took charge of the visitors. Some of the old Notre Dame men are crossing the continent to be present on the gala occasion Saturday.”
The game “is making the gridiron world turn over in the east and glance westward for two great teams to clash at Cartier Field. For the first time … a real formidable foe is being ushered upon the Catholics’ home field.”
“Knute K. Rockne, director of athletics at Notre Dame, deserves credit for making this such an important event. Never before has the local university brought a team with the prowess of Nebraska here … because it could not pay the price.
“But Mr. Rockne built a grandstand to accommodate 15,000 and placed his confidence in the citizens of South Bend for support. He did what was needed to get Nebraska to come and he has put over the deal in grand fashion. Mr. Rockne deserves credit for his courage. He is not afraid to tackle the best, the biggest ad the mightiest.”
Dawson’s Huskers featured a bevy of returning lettermen, and had dispatched Nebraska Wesleyan (55-0) and Haskell (41-0) in their opening games. The Irish had one-sided victories over Kalamazoo, DePauw and Purdue, but two weeks earlier had fallen 10-7 at Iowa, breaking their 20-game winning streak.
On the morning of the game, “an army of football fans poured into” South Bend, and “mingled through the throngs are heroes of historical football battles, dignitaries of the political and commercials worlds and just plain alumni back from all parts of the world.”
They were not disappointed. In a game that was described as a bitterly fought contest, Notre Dame prevailed 7-0 before the largest crowd to have seen a game at Cartier. It was, as typical of the day, a field-position battle, and “the punting of Paul Castner made it possible for the Irish to nurse the seven-point lead gained in the second period. He was able to punt out of danger whenever the stonewall line of the visitors resisted interference and plunges.”
The game’s lone score came when fullback Chet Wynne rushed for 19 yards on three plays to set up the Irish on the Nebraska 1-yard line. On a previous try from the same spot, John Mohardt’s surprise pass was intercepted in the end zone. This time, Mohardt carried the ball over, and Buck Shaw added the extra point. The Irish defense held up the rest of the way.
The greatest of all Irish stars, who had died the previous December, was also part of the proceedings. At halftime, the entire crowd “stood with uncovered heads for a moment in memory of the late George Gipp.”
Jim Lefebvre is an award-winning Notre Dame author and leads the Knute Rockne Memorial Society. He can be reached at: jlefebvre@blueandgold.com.
----
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
• Sign up for Blue & Gold's news alerts and daily newsletter.
• Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts.
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @Rivals_Singer, @PatrickEngel_, @tbhorka and @ToddBurlage.
• Like us on Facebook.