From gold-plated lids to dirt-caked uniforms, Notre Dame football’s rich history goes further back than most in the history of American sports.
With 11 national championships to its name — and 11 more that have gone unclaimed — the Irish remain one of college football’s most prestigious programs.
Recent iterations of the roster haven’t quite been able to match up to the team’s legacy. But three appearances in the College Football Playoff — including 2024 — seem to indicate that a return to form could be on the horizon.
So, just where does Notre Dame — one of college football’s landmark institutions — reside? The Sporting News has you covered.
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Where is Notre Dame located?
Founded in 1842 by a collection of eight clergymen, Notre Dame is located in South Bend, Ind. A private Catholic research university, the school is widely considered one of the top academic institutions in the United States.
South Bend sits about 150 miles away from Indiana’s capital city, Indianapolis.
Notre Dame stadium
The Irish play their games at the aptly-named Notre Dame Stadium, a 77,262-seat behemoth alternatively known as “The House that Rockne Built.”
Erected in 1930, the stadium is a must-see attraction for college football enthusiasts. Adorned with the “Touchdown Jesus” mural and a view of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the destination has plenty to offer to those who cherish America’s Game.
How big is Notre Dame?
Notre Dame has an enrollment of 8,968 undergraduate students, according to its official website. The school also houses some 4,206 graduate scholars as well as more than 1,500 faculty members. The university touts 77 undergraduate majors as well as eight different colleges and schools contained under its banner. And Notre Dame’s student population outweighs the school’s faculty by a near 9:1 ratio.
As for athletics, Notre Dame is well-represented across various playing surfaces, claiming 26 Division I programs, including football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer and men’s and women’s lacrosse.
Who founded Notre Dame?
Rev. Edward Sorin C.S.C., a French priest of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, is widely considered to be the founder of Notre Dame. Sorin and seven missionaries took possession of a 524-acre plot of land donated to them from the then-Bishop of Vincennes (now known as the Archdiocese of Indianapolis), Célestin Guynemer de la Hailandière.
Although Sorin and his associates received the deed to the land in 1842, Notre Dame wasn’t officially chartered by the Indiana state legislature until 1844.
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What is Notre Dame named after?
Sorin also played a vital role in christening his newfound brainchild with its iconic appellation. The Frenchman opted to pay tribute to his Catholic roots, his native tongue and the lakes that speckle the campus’ backdrop, labeling the fledgling school “L’Université de Notre Dame du Lac” (The University of Our Lady of the Lake).
Sorin was a noted admirer of the land’s many waterways. In a letter to Basil Moreau, Sorin waxed lyrical about the natural habitat that surrounded him in South Bend.
Everything was frozen, and yet it all appeared so beautiful. The lake, particularly, with its mantle of snow, resplendent in its whiteness, was to us a symbol of the stainless purity of Our August Lady, whose name it bears; and also of the purity of soul which should characterize the new inhabitants of these beautiful shores. Our lodgings appeared to us-as indeed they are-but little different from those at St. Peter’s. We made haste to inspect all the various sites on the banks of the lake which had been so highly praised. Yes, like little children, in spite of the cold, we went from one extremity to the other, perfectly enchanted with the marvelous beauties of our new abode. Oh! may this new Eden be ever the home of innocence and virtue!
What is Notre Dame’s mascot?
Notre Dame’s sports teams are called the Fighting Irish. The title has a checkered and contradictory history. Some believe the “Irish” moniker emerged in the Civil War when Irish-led Union battalions clashed with Confederate units, while others believe it stems from Sorin’s first foray into South Bend — four of the clergymen who joined him were Irish.
Either way, by 1919 — the year when Irish revolutionary Éamon de Valera fled to the United States to evade British colonial authorities — the phrase was a hit.
“The language you use here, the ‘Fighting Irish’ … what we actually mean mostly when we talk about it is an indomitable spirit, a commitment, never tentative, always fully committed, to life itself … that’s really the spirit of the Fighting Irish,” de Valera told a crowd of 60,000 in Fenway Park.
What conference is Notre Dame in?
Notre Dame belongs to a wide array of conferences across sports, including the ACC (men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s lacrosse, etc.) and the Big Ten (men’s ice hockey). On the gridiron, the Irish isn’t tied to any conference, however; Notre Dame is one of three Independent sides in FBS alongside UConn and UMass.
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