Notre Dame football: Ranking modern Irish rivals
When you think of Notre Dame football the many great rivalries come to mind with regular affairs with USC and Michigan especially standing out. Those rivalries go back to the days of and even before Knute Rockne at Notre Dame.
What about the more modern day ones though? The ones that you won’t read about in a book about the origins of college football but instead in more recent years. Who are Notre Dame’s biggest rivals that are relatively new on the schedule?
That’s what we take a look at in this list. When you read it don’t read it as all-time, there will be a post on specifically that later on. Instead, since the end of World War II, who are the teams that Notre Dame has shared a bit of a rivalry with even if they aren’t annually scheduled opponents?
Here are Notre Dame’s 10 biggest modern football rivals – again, historic ones like USC, Michigan, and Michigan State (just to name a few) aren’t eligible.
Air Force
There isn’t any form of hate in this rivalry but Notre Dame and Air Force have pretty regularly. All meetings have come since 1964 with the Irish holding a 24-6 lead all-time in the series.
Oklahoma
When you think of Notre Dame rivals, Oklahoma doesn’t quickly come to mind but there is a history in the series. The two blue-bloods first met in 1952 and have met 11 times overall with Notre Dame holding a 9-2 edge. The most famous meeting came in 1957 when Notre Dame ended Oklahoma’s 47-game winning streak.
Tennessee
The history between Notre Dame and Tennessee is short but sweet. The two met eight times from 1978-2005 with each taking home four victories. Tennessee’s comeback to win 35-34 in 1991 remains the biggest comeback win in Notre Dame Stadium history to this day.
Stanford
Outside of a few years from 2012-2018 I have never been able to get excited about Notre Dame-Stanford. They’re on the list because they’ve played annually since 1997 (except 2020) but besides both being incredible academic institutions, this rivalry feels like it’s more forced to me than anything.
LSU
The 12 times Notre Dame and LSU have met have been largely entertaining but that’s not why they’re this high. These two, who aren’t on any future schedules together, will be rivals of the Cold War variety for as long as Brian Kelly is associated with the Bayou Bengals.
Florida State
Notre Dame and Florida State have only met 11 times, all since 1980. They’ll forever be linked however for Notre Dame winning the “Game of the Century” between the two in 1993 but Florida State being crowned national champions just over a month later despite having the same record as the Irish. Florida State leads the series 6-5 all-time with their 2014 victory being as controversial as just about any ever.
Clemson
Since Notre Dame signed their deal to play five ACC games a year, Clemson has been the pride of the conference. Five of the seven all-time meetings between the two have come since then with just about every one of them having national championship implications. The two meet again in November of 2023 as a ton will again be on the line.
Boston College
Boston College hasn’t been a part of Notre Dame’s history for very long but they’ve evoked a lot of pain in that time. It was their upset of the Irish in 1993 that cost Notre Dame a title and in 2002 they ruined Notre Dame’s unbeaten season with an unlikely 14-7 upset. Notre Dame leads the series 18-9 all-time and hasn’t lost to the Eagles since 2008.
Penn State
Notre Dame and Penn State played twice before World War II but before the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten this was an epic series. The two have split 19 games all-time right down the middle (9-9-1 each) and although they haven’t met on the football field since 2007 they battle each other for recruits and national attention regularly.
Miami
Catholics vs. Convicts.
Do I really need to say anything else? This was the game in college football when Lou Holtz was at his peak at Notre Dame. It was so heated between the teams and fans that the two teams stopped playing each other. To this day Miami remains like a bad ex-girlfriend of the Irish: you don’t always think about them but if you see that they’re struggling it sure doesn’t bother you.
