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Notre Dame Football: 5 biggest ‘What If’ losses in Irish history

By Daniel Morrison

CLEMSON, SC - OCTOBER 03: DeShone Kizer #14 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish walks to the sidelines against the Clemson Tigers during their game at Clemson Memorial Stadium on October 3, 2015 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
CLEMSON, SC - OCTOBER 03: DeShone Kizer #14 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish walks to the sidelines against the Clemson Tigers during their game at Clemson Memorial Stadium on October 3, 2015 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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Honorable Mentions /

2005: USC 34, Notre Dame 31

Today, in college football, you are allowed to push a ball carrier forward as an offensive player. In 2005, you were not able to. That didn’t stop Reggie Bush from pushing Matt Leinart across the goal line to beat Notre Dame.

For the Irish, they lost out on a chance to beat the No. 1 team in the country and their greatest rival. The second thing that happened was it kept USC’s perfect regular season in tact. This would eventually lead them to the Rose Bowl. In that Rose Bowl, the Trojans played the greatest game of college football ever against Texas. Without beating Notre Dame, that would likely have not been the National Championship match-up. Odds are that Penn State would have played Texas in the National Championship Game.

There’s a chance that Notre Dame would have jumped Penn State and Ohio State to play Texas if they had a marquee win over USC. However, it’s unlikely Notre Dame would have beaten that dominant Texas team.

1953: Iowa 14, Notre Dame 14

1948: Notre Dame 14, USC 14

1941: Army 0, Notre Dame 0

This is cheating, because none of these were losses. However, all of these ties happened in years where Notre Dame didn’t lose a single game. They also occurred in years when Notre Dame didn’t win the National Championship.

With wins in these games, Notre Dame would have had a National Championship in each of these seasons. That would hypothetically take the Notre Dame trophy count to 14 National Championships.

1915: Notre Dame 19, Nebraska 20

Nebraska filled the role of USC before Rockne started taking the train to L.A. for exposure. In 1915, Notre Dame only allowed more than seven points once. The Cornhuskers didn’t lose a single game and won the Missouri Valley. They should have been National Champions.

However, there was no clear best team by votes. If Notre Dame had managed to go undefeated, they could have received votes to be the National Champions. Instead, Pitt and Cornell claim the National Championship for the season.

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