Football games between Notre Dame and Indiana have been a rumor for nearly 60 years. The upcoming Dec. 20 playoff game is the two schools’ first since their 1991 matchup, with the previous clash dating back to 1958. Yet, an equally rare occurrence takes place this year, a December home game for the Irish.
The playoff clash will mark just the fourth game that Notre Dame has hosted a game during the year’s final month. That’s less than the 11 national titles won by the Irish.
Each of the previous trio of December contests has an interesting tale attached to it. Below is a look at the first, a byproduct of World War II:
Dec. 2, 1944: Notre Dame 28, Great Lakes Navy 7
Wartime absences and sacrifices led to temporary changes in college football, including allowing freshmen to play on varsity teams. Training centers like those at Great Lakes were the beneficiaries when it came to acquiring football talent, with the squad mentored in 1944 and 1945 by the legendary Paul Brown.
The 1944 Great Lakes team had four former Notre Dame players on it, including fullback Jim Mello, who’d been a key part of the 1943 national champions. Meanwhile, the Irish had a new coach in place of Frank Leahy, who’d stepped away until 1946 to serve in the Navy. In his place was Ed McKeever, who had led the Irish to a 7-2 mark entering this game. Great Lakes had a 9-1-1 mark entering this game, the lone loss coming against Brown’s old school, Ohio State.
The Bluejackets took a 7-0 lead after a scoreless first quarter and seemed poised to double that advantage. However, Jim Dailer picked off the pass near the goal line for the Irish, returning it 53 yards.
That turnover changed Notre Dame’s luck when a 10-play drive later in the period culminated with halfback Bob Kelly’s game-tying grab. The deadlock was then broken with less than five minutes left in the third quarter when Irish defender John Mastrangelo’s jarring hit resulted in a fumble that was recovered in the end zone by Doug Waybright.
Notre Dame’s next score came at the end of a 21-play drive, followed by the final score that came four plays after another Irish interception put the ball at the Great Lakes 26. The win gained a measure of revenge after the Bluejackets had won 19-14 in the final minute the year before.
Dec. 5, 1953: Notre Dame 40, SMU 14
Closing out the 1953 season, the 8-0-1 Irish were ranked second and in contention for another national title. Leahy was in the final season of his remarkable Notre Dame career, with a 14-14 tie to Iowa two weeks early the only blemish on the team’s record.
The Irish scored on their second series of the game. After then getting stopped on downs near the SMU goal line, Notre Dame bounced back with some more luck as offensive lineman Frank Vecchione recovered a fumble in the end zone to make it 14-0. Two more scoring drives that sandwiched intermission gave the Irish a comfortable 27-0 lead.
By the time the third quarter had ended, Notre Dame had concluded its scoring for the afternoon, holding a 40-7 lead. SMU added its final score on a scoring toss to future Hall of Famer Raymond Berry. As the game concluded, Irish fans were emphatic in believing that their team was national champions.
However, earlier that week, the Maryland Terrapins had been crowned national champion. That custom of declaring a school a title winner before bowl games continued into the early 1970s, with this particular declaration soon causing outrage. That’s because Maryland then lost to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, finishing 10-1 in comparison to the 9-0-1 Irish.
Dec. 5, 2020: Notre Dame 45, Syracuse 21
The chaos caused by the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the revamping of countless college football schedules, including the Irish. Originally, Syracuse wasn’t on the Notre Dame schedule that was supposed to conclude in Los Angeles against Southern Cal. Instead, a series of cancellations forced the issue and led to the Irish becoming a temporary member of the ACC in football.
Notre Dame entered this game with a spotless 9-0 record, unlike the struggling Orangemen, who were 1-9 at the time. Yet, much like this season, the Irish got off to a slow start at home and only led 3-0 after one quarter. By halftime, however, Notre Dame led 24-7 after a 28-yard scoring run by quarterback Ian Book and two scoring tosses from Book to wideout Javon McKinley.
Syracuse chopped the margin to 10 on its first drive of the second half, but the Irish ended any thoughts of an upset with three unanswered scores. Two of those were another touchdown pass to McKinley and a 94-yard scoring run by freshman Chris Tyree.
Notre Dame ended up competing in the 2020 College Football Playoff later that month but fell to Alabama in the Rose Bowl by a score of 31-14.
