Notre Dame-Texas Opener Moved To Sunday Night
For the first time since 1996, the Notre Dame football team won’t open its season on a Saturday.
The Notre Dame and Texas athletic departments released statements this afternoon that their scheduled opener at Austin on Saturday, Sept. 3 will now instead be played Sunday, Sept. 4 so it can be an exclusive Sunday highlight of Labor Day weekend. The game will be played at night, but kickoff time and television details are still to be announced later.
Said Notre Dame vice president and James E. Rohr director of athletics Jack Swarbrick in a released statement: “A game of the magnitude of Notre Dame-Texas, played on the opening weekend of the college football season, deserves a special place on the Labor Day sports calendar. With this move we have secured that place and by doing so are providing a greater opportunity for fans of college football to enjoy what is sure to be another great game in a classic rivalry that dates back to 1913.”
Texas men’s athletics director Mike Perrin echoed those thoughts: “When you hear Texas Longhorns and Notre Dame Fighting Irish it grabs everyone’s attention. That’s a historic sporting event that fans worldwide want to see. This schedule provides a wonderful opportunity to play the game in an exclusive window so everyone can see it. We discussed it quite a bit and took into account all of the factors in making the decision.”
The last time Notre Dame opened the season other than on a Saturday was in Lou Holtz’s final season as the Irish head coach, when the Irish squeaked by with a 14-7 victory at Vanderbilt on a Thursday night (Sept. 5) on ESPN 20 years ago.
Notre Dame also opened on a Thursday night in 1989 versus Virginia in the Kickoff Classic when the Irish were the defending national champions. Then in 1974 and 1975, Ara Parseghian’s final year as the Notre Dame coach and then Dan Devine’s first, it opened on Monday nights on ABC-TV versus Georgia Tech and Boston College, respectively.
Notre Dame opened last season with a 38-3 trouncing of Texas in a night game at home to raise its all-time record against the Longhorns to 9-2. The Irish are 4-0 in Austin with victories in 1913 (30-7), 1915 (36-7), 1952 (14-3) and 1996 (27-24), the latter on a 39-yard field goal by freshman Jim Sanson as time expired. The defensive line coach for Notre Dame that day for Holtz’s final team was Charlie Strong, now the third-year head coach of the Longhorns.
“Having worked in both programs, I have a deep appreciation of the great football pride, tradition and passion at Texas and Notre Dame,” Strong said. “This is a game we’re obviously very excited about and really looking forward to. I think moving it to Sunday with no NFL games when it can really be in the spotlight will make it that much more special.”
The two teams also met in the 1970, 1971 and 1978 Cotton Bowls with the national title on the line each time. Texas rallied to a 21-17 victory in the first, while the next year the Irish ended the Longhorns’ 30-game winning streak, 24-11, but ended up No. 2 in the final rankings with 11-0-1 Nebraska getting the nod over 10-1 Notre Dame.
In 1978, No. 5 Notre Dame’s 38-10 demolition of No. 1 Texas vaulted it all the way to the top spot. Notre Dame has the second most victories in college football history with 892, while Texas is third with 886.