History of Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football

History Of Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football

American football did not have an auspicious beginning at the University of Notre Dame. In their inaugural game on November 23, 1887 the Irish lost to Michigan by a score of 8–0. Their first win came in the final game of the 1888 season when the Irish defeated Harvard Prep by a score of 20–0. At the end of the 1888 season they had a record of 1–3 with all three losses being at the hands of Michigan by a combined score of 43–9. Between 1887 and 1899 Notre Dame compiled a record of 31 wins, 15 losses, and four ties against a diverse variety of opponents ranging from local high school teams to other universities. At the beginning of the 20th century college football began to increase in popularity and became more standardized with the introduction of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS) in 1906. That organization would become the NCAA in 1910. Notre Dame continued its success during this time and achieved their first victory over Michigan in 1909 by the score of 11–3 after which Michigan refused to play Notre Dame again for 33 years. By the end of the 1912 season they had amassed a record of 108 wins, 31 losses, and 13 ties.

Jesse Harper became head coach in 1913 and remained so until he retired in 1917. During his tenure the Irish began playing only intercollegiate games and posted a record of 34 wins, 5 losses, and one tie. This period would also mark the beginning of the rivalry with Army and the continuation of rivalries with Michigan State.

In 1913, Notre Dame burst into the national consciousness and helped to transform the collegiate game in a single contest. In an effort to gain respect for a regionally successful but small-time Midwestern football program, Harper scheduled games in his first season with national powerhouses Texas, Penn State, and Army. On November 1, 1913, the Notre Dame squad stunned the Black Knights of the Hudson 35-13 in a game played at West Point. Led by quarterback Charlie "Gus" Dorais and end (soon to be legendary coach) Knute Rockne, the Notre Dame team attacked the Cadets with an offense that featured both the expected powerful running game but also long and accurate downfield forward passes from Dorais to Rockne.

This game has been miscredited as the "invention" of the forward pass but is considered the first major contest in which a team used the forward pass regularly throughout the game. (For example, Homer Woodson Hargiss regularly called the play for quarterback Arthur Schabinger at the College of Emporia as early as 1910.)

Read more about History Of Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football:  Rockne Era (1918–1930), After Rockne (1931–1940), Leahy Era (1941–1953), After Leahy (1954–1963), Parseghian Era (Era of Ara)(1964–1974), Devine Era (1975–1980), Faust Era (1981–1985), Willingham Era (2002–2004), Weis Era (2005–2009)

Famous quotes containing the words history of, history, notre, dame, fighting, irish and/or football:

    “The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman.”
    —Willa Cather (1876–1947)

    “Postmodernism is, almost by definition, a transitional cusp of social, cultural, economic and ideological history when modernism’s high-minded principles and preoccupations have ceased to function, but before they have been replaced with a totally new system of values. It represents a moment of suspension before the batteries are recharged for the new millennium, an acknowledgment that preceding the future is a strange and hybrid interregnum that might be called the last gasp of the past.”
    —Gilbert Adair, British author, critic. Sunday Times: Books (London, April 21, 1991)

    “Se bella piu satore, je notre so catore,
    Je notre qui cavore, je la qu’, la qui, la quai!
    Le spinash or le busho, cigaretto toto bello,
    Ce rakish spagoletto, si la tu, la tu, la tua!
    Senora pelefima, voulez-vous le taximeter,
    La zionta sur le tita, tu le tu le tu le wa!”
    —Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977)

    “my youth i shall never forget
    but there s nothing i really regret
    wotthehell wotthehell
    there s a dance in the old dame yet
    toujours gai toujours gai”
    —Don Marquis (1878–1937)

    ““Oh, the fighting races don’t die out,
    If they seldom die in bed,
    For love is first in their hearts, no doubt,””
    —Joseph I. C. Clarke (1846–1925)

    “Ireland still remains the Holy Isle whose aspirations must on no account be mixed with the profane class-struggles of the rest of the sinful world ... the Irish peasant must not on any account know that the Socialist workers are his sole allies in Europe.”
    —Friedrich Engels (1820–1895)

    “In this dream that dogs me I am part
    Of a silent crowd walking under a wall,
    Leaving a football match, perhaps, or a pit,
    All moving the same way.”
    —Philip Larkin (1922–1986)