Yesterday’s announcement of a home-and-home with Arkansas and its accompanying note that 2020 will be the first time the Irish and Razorbacks meet got us thinking: Who has Notre Dame football never played in its illustrious, 130-year history? We dove into the annals (annalsĀ – get your mind out of the gutter, man) to look at Notre Dame’s records against current Power 5 teams and, as it turns out, the list was considerably smaller than we thought it would be. We also noticed that there are a number of significant programs that the Irish have faced very rarely and/or a very long time ago, so we’ll take a look at those too.

Teams On Jack’s To-Do List

Recent schedule announcements – Georgia in 2017 and 2019, Michigan in 2018 and 2019, Ohio State in 2018 and 2022, Arkansas in 2020 and 2025, Texas A&M in 2024 and 2025 – make it quite clear that athletic director Jack Swarbrick is aggressively pursuing marquee opponents to complement the usual slate that includes USC, Stanford, and one of the top-tier ACC teams. Not all of the teams that are absent from Notre Dame’s record books have the same cache as those opponents, but nonetheless, if Jack will take suggestions for new opponents, he could do worse than to start with that list as he continues the search. Note that, somewhat surprisingly, we have played every current member of the ACC, Big Ten, and Pac 12 at least once, so our list is limited to just the Big 12 and the SEC.

Big 12

  • Iowa State
  • Kansas State
  • Oklahoma State
  • Texas Tech

I could kind of take or leave Iowa State and Texas Tech, but to complete the list I wouldn’t mind facing them. I’d love to get Kansas State or Okie Light on the schedule at some point, though. Plus, we can schedule Kansas State for whenever we want and be secure in the knowledge that Bill Snyder will still be there.

SEC

  • Arkansas
  • Auburn
  • Kentucky
  • Mississippi State

Arkansas will be taken care of soon enough, of course. Kentucky and Mississippi State are just as interesting as Kansas State and Oklahoma State – I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing them. And Auburn? Please please please please please please please please please… Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs mentioned Notre Dame back in 2014 when discussing out-of-conference teams he’d like to schedule. I’m sure Under Armour would really like to see this game scheduled as well. Jack, make this happen. MAKE IT HAPPEN!

The “Hey, Remember Us?” Category

As noted above, while we’ve played every other Power 5 team, we haven’t darkened the doorstep of some of them in quite some time.

  • 1938:Ā Franklin Roosevelt is elected for the first time. Adolf Hitler is named TIME Magazine’s Man of the Year (not a joke). Superman first appears in DC Comics. Notre Dame plays the last of its five games against Minnesota.
  • 1964: Lyndon Johnson is elected president. The first US Beatles album is released. “Dr. Strangelove” premiers. Notre Dame plays the last of its 16 games against Wisconsin.
  • 1967:Ā PBS is founded. Jimi Hendrix records “Purple Haze.” Muhammad Ali is stripped of his title for refusing to enter the Army. Notre Dame plays the last of its four games againstĀ California.
  • 1968:Ā Richard Nixon is elected president (I think I’m sensing a theme here, folks). Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated. Evel Knievel crashes attempting to jump the Caesar’s Palace fountain. Jacques Cousteau’s first US special airs. Notre Dame plays the last of its 12 games against Illinois and the last of its 24 (!) games against Iowa.
  • 1972: Richard Nixon is re-elected. Oops… Irish DE Walt Patulski is selected #1 overall by the Buffalo Bills. The FBI adds its first two female agents. Fischer defeats Spassky. Notre Dame meets TCU for the first and only time.
  • 1980-1985:Ā This six-year stretch saw Notre Dame’s last match-ups withĀ Georgia (1980),Ā Arizona (1982), OregonĀ (1982), Missouri (1984), South Carolina (1984), and Ole Miss (1985).
  • 1991-1999: The glorious decade of the 90’s held Notre Dame’s last meetings with Indiana (1991), Florida (1992), Colorado (1994), Vanderbilt (1996), Baylor (1998), and Kansas (1999).
  • 2001-2010:Ā The first decade of the third millennium contained Notre Dame’s last games with Nebraska (2001), Texas A&M (2001), West Virginia (2001), Oregon State (2004), Tennessee (2005), Penn State (2007), UCLA (2007), Washington (2009),Ā Washington State (2009), and Utah (2010).

The “Extended Hiatus” Category

Notre Dame has met a handful of schools for a couple of games that are spaced very widely apart. The winner (?) isĀ Rutgers, who faced the Irish at the Polo Grounds in 1921 and waited until Lou Holtz’s final season, 1996, to face them again.Ā BaylorĀ was a very close second, facing Notre Dame just twice – once in 1925, and once in 1998. KansasĀ visited South Bend in 1938 and next played Notre Dame in 1999.Ā Ohio State dropped the “Game of the Century” in 1936 and waited until John Cooper’s 1995 squad to play the Irish again.Ā UCLA faced Ara Parseghian in 1964 and didn’t see the Irish again until Charlie Weis’s 2006 squad.Ā Syracuse had a 40-year gap, from the program’s zenith in 1963 to the disastrous Ty Willingham performance in 2003. Notre Dame met Arizona for the first time in 1941, and forewent their company again until 1980.

The “We Hardly Knew Thee” Category

While Notre Dame has faced nearly every current Power 5 team, several of those opponents barely have a presence in the history books. After Auburn and Kansas State, I’d probably look here to pick out some marquee names:

  • 1 game:Ā Florida, Georgia, Louisville, TCU, Utah, Virginia Tech
  • 2 games:Ā Baylor, Maryland, North Carolina State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Oregon State, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Washington State
  • 3 games: Arizona, Clemson, Wake Forest
  • 4 games: Arizona State, Cal, Missouri, South Carolina, UCLA, West Virginia
  • 5 games:Ā Colorado, Duke, Minnesota, Rutgers, Texas A&M

From that list, I’d prioritize Florida, Ole Miss, Oregon, TCU, UCLA, and Colorado, in that order. The ACC teams will take care of themselves, of course, and Texas A&M is already on future schedules.

What say you, commentariat? Who do you most want to see enter the schedule?