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Notre Dame Football: The 5 Teams the Irish Have Dominated

By Daniel Morrison

NORMAN, OK - OCTOBER 27: Manti Te'o #5 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Tom Wort #21 of the Oklahoma Sooners talk after the game at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on October 27, 2012 in Norman, Oklahoma. The Fighting Irish defeated the Sooners 30-13. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - OCTOBER 27: Manti Te'o #5 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Tom Wort #21 of the Oklahoma Sooners talk after the game at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on October 27, 2012 in Norman, Oklahoma. The Fighting Irish defeated the Sooners 30-13. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /
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North Carolina (18-2)

CHAPEL HILL, NC – OCTOBER 07: Jordan Cunningham #10 of the North Carolina Tar Heels makes a catch against Nick Coleman #24 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the game at Kenan Stadium on October 7, 2017 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NC – OCTOBER 07: Jordan Cunningham #10 of the North Carolina Tar Heels makes a catch against Nick Coleman #24 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the game at Kenan Stadium on October 7, 2017 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

Unlike Indiana, North Carolina has a chance to better their record against Notre Dame. The two will meet in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2026, and 2029. In a few years, this series could be a lot more even, especially if North Carolina keeps trending upwards as they are now.

For the time being, Notre Dame has stilled dominated this series. The majority of the meetings came between 1949 and 1966. During this time Notre Dame was dominant, despite the program being down under Terry Brennan and Joe Kuharich. Of course, it didn’t hurt Notre Dame that North Carolina was struggling during this time period too.

The two have met every now and again during the 21st century. In this century, Notre Dame is 3-1 over North Carolina. That one loss was vacated, due to the massive academics scandal under Butch Davis at North Carolina. So, technically speaking, the 1960 win is the Tar Heels’ only win over the Irish. That would make Notre Dame’s record against North Carolina 18-1, but as we counted Notre Dame’s stripped win over Oklahoma in 2012, we can keep the North Carolina’s win total against the Irish at 2.

The final score of that game was 12-7. On the other hand, Notre Dame has often won big throughout the series. Recently, Brian Kelly’s Notre Dame team won 33-10 in Chapel Hill. The 1966 National Championship team beat North Carolina 32-0. In 1952 and 53 Notre Dame won by a score of 34-14. The next season, in 1954, Notre Dame would beat the Tar Heels 42-13. Still, the biggest win for the Irish over North Carolina came in 1949. The final score then would be 42-6.

In the coming seasons, with the ACC agreement, Notre Dame will put their historic domination over North Carolina to the test. With trips to North Carolina, will come an excellent opportunity to open up a new pipeline for the Irish. Charlotte is one of the fastest growing, recruiting hotbeds. These trips will help the Notre Dame coaches watch, and meet with recruits in person. In turn, this should help Notre Dame recruit nationally, which they desperately need to do if they want to take the next step forward as a program.

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