Notre Dame helps kick off the college football season this weekend as the Irish will be in Ireland to take on Navy.
It’s rare that Notre Dame has kicked off a football season in Ireland but less that they have in August. The Irish have played a handful of times historically in the year’s eighth month and fared well.
Check out below how the Irish have fared in those five games as we’ll see if they can add another victory to the list in 2023 as they open the season in Saturday against Navy.
6. August 31, 1989: Notre Dame 36 Virginia 13 Playing their first game since winning the national championship the season before, No. 2
Notre Dame opened what would be an incredible 1989 season with a 36-13 win over Virginia in the former Kickoff Classic.
5. August 28, 1999: Notre Dame 48 Kansas 13 No.18 Notre Dame started the 1999 season by hosting Kansas in the Eddie Robinson Classic, a season-opening series that lasted from 1997-2002.
4. August 31, 2002: Notre Dame 22 Maryland 0 What wound up being an incredibly entertaining and surprisingly strong 2002,
season got off to a dominating defensive start against No. 21 Maryland who was coming off of an ACC Championship the year previous.
3. August 31, 2013: Notre Dame 28 Temple 6 No. 14 Notre Dame was coming off of a BCS Championship Game appearance the year before but had just experienced one of the strangest off-seasons a college football team will ever see.
2. August 30, 2014: Notre Dame 48 Rice 17 Everett Golson was back after being ineligible for the 2013 season and returned with a bang, running for three touchdowns in Notre Dame’s season-opening blowout victory over Rice.
1. August 26, 2023 - Notre Dame vs. Navy in Dublin Notre Dame and Navy start the season off Saturday in Dublin.
It’ll be the third time Notre Dame has played in Ireland with each contest previously coming against Navy. The Irish will look to stay perfect in Ireland and in August when they take the field Saturday.