Notre Dame seems to have a knack for playing teams in the regular season who are chasing NCs.

It seems almost unique to me that Notre Dame over the years has faced so many teams who were legitimate contenders for National Championships.

1930’s and 40’s - Army
1950’s - Oklahoma
1960’s - Michigan State
1970’s - Pitt, Bama, USC
1980’s - Miami and Penn State
1990’s - Miami, Florida State, Ohio State, Penn State
2000’s - Nebraska, USC, LSU
2010’s - Florida State, Clemson, Georgia

Add in teams like Michigan, Tennessee, etc. who we have played throughout the years when they were Top 5 or Top 10 teams and it really is amazing. Big 10, PAC 10, SEC, Big 8/12, Big East, ACC, Independents, we’ve played them all. Seems like it would be hard to plan that, even if you tried. You never know for sure who is going to be good when. I’m sure I got a couple of teams and decades slightly off or missed some, but from my memory this is fairly accurate. It’s impressive.