The Notre Dame–Pittsburgh football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Pittsburgh Panthers.[2] Notre Dame leads the series 50–21–1.[3]
First meeting | October 30, 1909 Notre Dame, 6–0 |
---|---|
Latest meeting | October 28, 2023 Notre Dame, 58–7 |
Next meeting | 2025 |
Stadiums | Acrisure Stadium Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, Indiana, U.S. |
Trophy | None |
Statistics | |
Meetings total | 73 |
All-time series | Notre Dame leads, 50–21–1 (.701)[1] |
Largest victory | Notre Dame, 58–0 (1944) |
Longest win streak | Notre Dame, 11 (1964–1974) |
Current win streak | Notre Dame, 4 (2015–present) |
History
This storied series began in 1909,[3][4] and there have been no more than two consecutive seasons without two teams meeting each other except from 1913 to 1929, 1938 to 1942, and 1979 to 1981. Since 1982, the Panthers and Irish have remained a relative fixture on each other's schedules.
The series has featured several memorable games. In 1975, Pittsburgh's Tony Dorsett rushed for a school-record 303 yards in a 34–20 victory at Pitt Stadium, still the most yards ever by an Irish opponent.[5] The following year, he rushed for 181 yards on 22 carries in a 31–10 victory as No. 9 Pitt defeated No. 11 Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, en route to an undefeated season and a national championship.[6]
In 2012, Notre Dame's Everett Golson sparked a comeback from 14 points down in the fourth quarter to force overtime, and the Irish survived a narrowly-missed game-winning field goal attempt by the Panthers in the second OT, to pull out a 29–26 victory in triple OT at home to stay unbeaten en route to a perfect 12–0 regular season.[7][8] The longest game in Notre Dame history occurred between the two schools in 2008, when Pitt defeated ND 36–33 in four overtimes at Notre Dame after the game was delayed briefly in the first overtime by the sprinklers in one end zone suddenly going off.[9][10][11] The most recent game was a 45–3 Irish win on October 24, 2020, at Pittsburgh.[12]
The game often gets a large amount of national media attention and most often is televised on major television channels like NBC (which televises all Notre Dame home games),[13] ABC and ESPN.
Game results
Notre Dame victories | Pittsburgh victories | Tie games | Vacated wins[n 1] |
No. | Date | Location | Winner | Score | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
39 | October 14, 1972 | South Bend, IN | Notre Dame | 42–16 | ||||
40 | November 10, 1973 | Pittsburgh, PA | Notre Dame | 31–10 | ||||
41 | November 16, 1974 | South Bend, IN | Notre Dame | 14–10 | ||||
42 | November 15, 1975 | Pittsburgh, PA | Pittsburgh | 34–20 | ||||
43 | September 11, 1976 | South Bend, IN | Pittsburgh | 31–10 | ||||
44 | September 10, 1977 | Pittsburgh, PA | Notre Dame | 19–9 | ||||
45 | October 14, 1978 | South Bend, IN | Notre Dame | 26–17 | ||||
46 | November 6, 1982 | Pittsburgh, PA | Notre Dame | 31–16 | ||||
47 | November 5, 1983 | South Bend, IN | Pittsburgh | 21–16 | ||||
48 | October 11, 1986 | South Bend, IN | Pittsburgh | 10–9 | ||||
49 | October 10, 1987 | Pittsburgh, PA | Pittsburgh | 30–22 | ||||
50 | October 8, 1988 | Pittsburgh, PA | Notre Dame | 30–20 | ||||
51 | October 28, 1989 | South Bend, IN | Notre Dame | 45–7 | ||||
52 | October 27, 1990 | Pittsburgh, PA | Notre Dame | 31–22 | ||||
53 | October 12, 1991 | South Bend, IN | Notre Dame | 42–7 | ||||
54 | October 10, 1992 | Pittsburgh, PA | #14 Notre Dame | 52–21 | ||||
55 | October 9, 1993 | South Bend, IN | #4 Notre Dame | 44–0 | ||||
56 | November 16, 1996 | South Bend, IN | Notre Dame | 60–6 | ||||
57 | October 11, 1997 | Pittsburgh, PA | Notre Dame | 45–21 | ||||
58 | November 13, 1999 | Pittsburgh, PA | Pittsburgh | 37–27 | ||||
59 | October 6, 2001 | South Bend, IN | Notre Dame | 24–7 | ||||
60 | October 12, 2002 | South Bend, IN | Notre Dame | 14–6 | ||||
61 | October 11, 2003 | Pittsburgh, PA | Notre Dame | 20–14 | ||||
62 | November 13, 2004 | South Bend, IN | Pittsburgh | 41–38 | ||||
63 | September 3, 2005 | Pittsburgh, PA | Notre Dame | 42–21 | ||||
64 | November 1, 2008 | South Bend, IN | Pittsburgh | 36–334OT | ||||
65 | November 14, 2009 | Pittsburgh, PA | Pittsburgh | 27–22 | ||||
66 | October 9, 2010 | South Bend, IN | Notre Dame | 23–17 | ||||
67 | September 24, 2011 | Pittsburgh, PA | Notre Dame | 15–12 | ||||
68 | November 3, 2012 | South Bend, IN | #3 Notre Dame† | 29–263OT | ||||
69 | November 9, 2013 | Pittsburgh, PA | Pittsburgh | 28–21 | ||||
70 | November 7, 2015 | Pittsburgh, PA | #5 Notre Dame | 42–30 | ||||
71 | October 13, 2018 | South Bend, IN | #5 Notre Dame | 19–14 | ||||
72 | October 24, 2020 | Pittsburgh, PA | #3 Notre Dame | 45–3 | ||||
73 | October 28, 2023 | South Bend, IN | #14 Notre Dame | 58–7 | ||||
Series: Notre Dame leads 50–21–1[1] | ||||||||
† Vacated by Notre Dame |