Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1540307
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 18, 2025 51 Bowl that produced a 27-10 victory over Stanford and the school's first consen- sus national championship for Rockne, the Four Horsemen and the Seven Mules. The first trip to Los Angeles it- self came two seasons later, when the Southern Cal series began on Dec. 4, 1926, in a thrilling 13-12 last-minute victory over the Trojans. Most seemingly unlikely state to host a Notre Dame game? That could be South Dakota. Notre Dame and the South Dakota Coyotes met in a five-year series from 1913-17, with three games at Cartier Field and two at Sioux Falls, the state's largest city, where the Irish won 33-0 in 1914 and 21-0 in 1916. The latter trip wasn't the highlight for Notre Dame football that weekend. The Notre Dame freshmen had a game at Western Normal in Kalamazoo, Mich. There, first-year standout George Gipp stunned the football world by suc- cessfully booting a dropkick 62 yards for a game-winning field goal in a 10-7 victory. Among the 11 states Notre Dame has never visited, the five Eastern states are not likely prospects to become the 40th. They are Maine, New Hampshire, Ver- mont, Rhode Island and Delaware. Six western states provide a couple of possible game locations: North Da- kota, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, New Mexico and Alaska. Though a return trip to the blue turf of Boise State is not cur- rently scheduled, a trip there or to Las Cruces, N.M., is at least conceivable. The Fighting Irish will open the 2026 season with a first-ever trip to another iconic football location — Green Bay, Wis. — to meet the Wisconsin Badgers at Lam- beau Field. It will be Notre Dame's first trip to the state of Wisconsin since the initial game of the Ara Parseghian era, a 31-7 victory over the Badgers in 1964 at Madison's Camp Randall Stadium. In Green Bay, the Knute Rockne Me- morial Society will celebrate the many ties that link these two football tradi- tions — from Green Bay's Curly Lam- beau scoring the first touchdown of the Knute Rockne era in 1918 to former Irish star Aaron Banks currently starting at left guard for the Packers, and every- thing in between. ✦ Jim Lefebvre is an award-winning Notre Dame author and leads the Knute Rockne Memorial Society. He can be reached at: jim@ndfootballhistory.com Your book order supports the Knute Rockne Memorial Society. Order your autographed, inscribed copy TODAY by visi ng www.RockneSociety.org/Shop/ Special Centennial Commemorative Edition LOYAL SONS: The Story of The Four Horsemen and Notre Dame Football's 1924 Champions Winner – Independent Publisher Book Awards Get the full story on these iconic Notre Dame figures A great read for any Notre Dame fan! "A must-read real jewel… wonderfully researched and detailed." --SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE SPECIAL CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATIVE EDITION National Award-Winning Author Jim Lefebvre T h e s t o r y o f T h e F o u r H o r s e m e n a n d N o t r e D a m e F o o t b a l l ' s 1 9 2 4 C h a m p i o n s Loyal Sons Notre Dame will make its first-ever visit to football-crazed Green Bay, Wis., on Sept. 6, 2026, to take on the Wisconsin Badgers at iconic Lambeau Field. FILE PHOTO