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Happy (late) Friday everyone! I have access to thousands and thousands of Notre Dame Fighting Irish photos, and will never use a small fraction of those on this site. The thing is though — I want to, and I’m going to give it a solid shot as a way to bless the beginning of the weekend throughout the season.
The Irish take on their second Big 10 West opponent on Saturday when they travel to Chicago for a Shamrock Series game against the Wisconsin Badgers. So... let’s take a look back at some Big Integer stuff.
SHOWING THEM THE ROPES
In 2013, Notre Dame had the absolute honor of playing the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in the Pinstripe Bowl. While Rutgers was still in their last season of the AAC, thanks to the Big 10 doing a silly thing and inviting the Scarlet Knights to join them, the Irish showed them waht life would be like in their new conference — like losing to Notre Dame (in an ugly game because that conference is ugly). The Irish are 208-106-14 all-time against the Big 10 — but this game didn’t count for that record.
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A DIFFERENT IOWA
Between 1921 and 1968, Notre Dame and the Iowa Hawkeyes played 24 times. Notre Dame leads the series 13-8-3. I know no one is hyping up a Notre Dame-Iowa home and home series — but I’d love to go to Kinnick Stadium and be a part of the Kinnick Wave at least once in my life.
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IN STATE RIVAL?
The Irish played the Indiana Hoosiers 28 times from 1898 to 1958 and racked up a 22-5-1 record against the boys from Bloomington. Four of those wins by Indiana came before 1907 — which was also the year for the lone tie in the series. The Irish and Hoosiers played a game in 1991 (49-27 Irish), which was the first ever game under the NBC contract. They have a home-and-home series scheduled for 2030 and 2031.
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BIG RED
Before there was the 2017 Sea of Red inside Notre Dame Stadium against the Georgia Bulldogs, there was the 2000 Sea of Red inside Notre Dame Stadium against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Just like Johns Hopkins lacrosse national championships, I’m sure the Big 10 swallowed up this game as a legendary Big 10 win despite Nebraska being in the Big 12 at the time. Notre Dame is 7-8-1 all-time against the Cornhuskers — so we should schedule some home-and-homes immediately.
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BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF HIM ROCK!
Notre Dame and the Wisconsin Badgers have played 16 times in their history with the Irish holding a slight edge with a 8-6-2 record. In the first four games of the series, the Irish didn’t score a point in from 1900-1917. Wisconsin returned the favor by not scoring in four games between 1929 and 1936. In all, this game has seen 9 shutouts — but 10 if you count the 0-0 tie in 1917 as a double shutout.
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