Not many rivalries have the same level of hatred as the long-lived rivalry between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Miami Hurricanes.
A matchup that peaked in the 1970s and 80s, the non-conference rivalry has lasted the test of time and is about to make its return for the first time in nearly a decade.
While the Fighting Irish will obviously have to deal with the irritation of Canes fans, they luckily won't have to listen to one of their least favorite commentators in the industry: Chris Fowler.
Earlier this week, ESPN and ABC announced their lineup of commentators for the slate of Week 1 college football matchups, and luckily, Fowler was assigned to the Clemson-LSU game, while Greg McElroy and Sean McDonough were assigned to the Notre Dame-Miami matchup.
ABC/ESPN decided to assign No. 2 team McDonough/Greg McElroy to UM-Notre Dame next Sunday night on ABC and lead team Fowler/Herbstreit to LSU-Clemson next Saturday night on ABC.
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) August 24, 2025
Now, it isn't every day that the announcers for a game can determine the mood of an entire fan base when they should just be excited about the fact that college football has returned. However, Fowler can do just that with the Fighting Irish crowd.
Why do Notre Dame fans hate Chris Fowler?
Fowler attended undergrad at Colorado Boulder, home to the CU Buffaloes. While Notre Dame doesn't necessarily "hate" the Buffs, the history dates back to the two teams' Orange Bowl matchup in 1991.
Then-Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz said some fairly disparaging remarks about the Colorado Buffaloes and their coaching staff just before kick-off, just for Colorado to eke out a 10-9 victory over the Irish.
Simply put, it wasn't a great bookmark in the all-time series between CU and ND. However, the "rivalry" isn't really the reason that the Fighting Irish despise Fowler's presence on the broadcast.
As one of ESPN's biggest in-game announcers and commentators, Fowler had repeatedly been assigned to Notre Dame games, many of which fans have walked away with a bad taste in their mouths due to a perceived bias against the Irish.
Despite Fowler repeatedly denying this bias, the long-time college football talking head made a handful of negative remarks about Notre Dame just a season ago, and it was when the Fighting Irish weren't even on the field.
"I just don't see how [Notre Dame] can hang with this Ohio State team," Fowler said toward the end of the OSU Buckeyes' semifinal win over the Texas Longhorns in the College Football Playoffs.
It was a semi-prediction for the upcoming National Championship, in which the Irish would face the Buckeyes. The game ended up coming down to the wire, and despite Ohio State walking away with the win, Notre Dame fans were more convinced than ever that Fowler had an unprecedented bias against their team.
The No. 6 Fighting Irish and the No. 10 Hurricanes are scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, Aug. 31, from Hard Rock Stadium. The game (without Fowler in the booth) will be broadcast on ABC.