1938 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

1938 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
1938 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
National champion (Dickinson)
Conference	Independent
Ranking
AP	No. 5
Record	8–1
Head coach	Elmer Layden (5th season);
Captain	Jim McGoldrick
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium
	Seasons ← 1937 1939 →

Last updated January 17, 2025

1938 Midwestern college football independents records
v t e	Conf			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
No. 5 Notre Dame		–		8	–	1	–	0
Central Michigan		–		7	–	1	–	0
Michigan State Normal		–		6	–	1	–	1
Xavier		–		7	–	2	–	0
Akron		–		6	–	3	–	0
Michigan State		–		6	–	3	–	0
Detroit Tech		–		6	–	3	–	0
Detroit		–		6	–	4	–	0
Western State Teachers (MI)		–		4	–	3	–	0
Cincinnati		–		4	–	5	–	0
Haskell		–		2	–	6	–	0
Wayne		–		2	–	6	–	0
DePaul		–		2	–	7	–	0
Marquette		–		1	–	7	–	0

Rankings from AP poll

The 1938 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1938 college football season.

Notre Dame was awarded the Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy for the season, emblematic of their selection as national champions by the Dickinson System.^[1] The Irish topped the AP Poll until their loss to USC in their last game of the season.

Notre Dame does not claim a national championship for this season.^[2]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
October 1	Kansas		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	W 52–0	25,615
October 8	at Georgia Tech		Grant Field Atlanta, GA (rivalry)	W 14–6	26,533	^[3]
October 15	Illinois		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	W 14–6	29,142
October 22	No. 13 Carnegie Tech	No. 5	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	W 7–0	25,934
October 29	vs. Army	No. 7	Yankee Stadium Bronx, NY (rivalry)	W 19–7	76,338
November 5	vs. Navy	No. 4	Municipal Stadium Baltimore, MD (rivalry)	W 15–0	58,271
November 12	No. 12 Minnesota	No. 2	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	W 19–0	55,245
November 19	at No. 16 Northwestern	No. 1	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL (rivalry)	W 9–7	46,348
December 3	at No. 8 USC	No. 1	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)	L 0–13	97,146
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[4]

Related Research Articles

Knute Kenneth Rockne was an American football player and coach at the University of Notre Dame. Leading Notre Dame for 13 seasons, Rockne accumulated over 100 wins and three national championships.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the college football team representing the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, north of the city of South Bend, Indiana. The team plays its home games at the campus's Notre Dame Stadium, which has a capacity of 77,622. Notre Dame is one of three schools that competes as an Independent at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level; however, they play five games a year against opponents from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), of which Notre Dame is a member in all other sports except ice hockey.

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The 1926 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1926 college football season, led by ninth-year head coach Knute Rockne. The Irish won all but one of their ten games, upset by Carnegie Tech in late November. The team was ranked No. 3 in the nation in the Dickinson System ratings released in December 1926.

The 1925 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team was an American football team that represented the University of Notre Dame as an independent during the 1925 college football season. In its eighth season under head coach Knute Rockne, the team compiled a 7–2–1 record and outscored opponents by a total of 200 to 64.

References

↑ Written at Chicago. "Irish Are Rated at Top by Dickinson". Fort Worth Star. Fort Worth. Associated Press. December 6, 1938. Retrieved August 17, 2022. Notre Dame will receive the Knute Rockne trophy
↑ Bertsch, Michael; Masters, Chris; Torbin, Leigh (2014). Notre Dame Football 2014 Media Guide. University of Notre Dame. pp. 2, 157. Archived from the original on April 30, 2015. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
↑ "Irish turn back Georgia Tech in 14–6 battle". Chicago Tribune. October 9, 1938. Retrieved September 30, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
↑ "1938 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Schedule and Results | College Football at Sports-Reference.com". sports-reference.com. Retrieved October 8, 2015.

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[1] Written at Chicago. "Irish Are Rated at Top by Dickinson". Fort Worth Star. Fort Worth. Associated Press. December 6, 1938. Retrieved August 17, 2022. Notre Dame will receive the Knute Rockne trophy

[2] Bertsch, Michael; Masters, Chris; Torbin, Leigh (2014). Notre Dame Football 2014 Media Guide. University of Notre Dame. pp. 2, 157. Archived from the original on April 30, 2015. Retrieved May 5, 2015.

[3] "Irish turn back Georgia Tech in 14–6 battle". Chicago Tribune. October 9, 1938. Retrieved September 30, 2023– via Newspapers.com.

[sports-reference-4] "1938 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Schedule and Results | College Football at Sports-Reference.com". sports-reference.com. Retrieved October 8, 2015.

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v t e Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Venues	Brownson Hall field (1892?–1899) Cartier Field (1899–1928) Soldier Field (1929) Notre Dame Stadium (1930–present)
Bowls and rivalries	Bowl games Emerald Isle Classic Army Boston College Michigan Michigan State Navy Northwestern Pittsburgh Purdue Stanford USC
Culture and lore	History Band of the Fighting Irish Irish Guard Notre Dame Box Notre Dame Leprechaun "Notre Dame, Our Mother" "Notre Dame Victory March" Play Like a Champion Today Subway Alumni T formation Tall Grass Game 1946 "Game of the Century" 1966 "Game of the Century" Catholics vs. Convicts 30 for 30 film 1993 "Game of the Century" Bush Push Navy ends the drought Death of Lizzy Seeberg 2020 ACC Championship Game The Spirit of Notre Dame Knute Rockne, All American Notre Dame Football on NBC Rudy
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks Four Horsemen NFL draftees Statistical leaders Team captains
Seasons	1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
National championship seasons in bold

v t e College football national champions (poll era)
1936–1949	1936: Minnesota (AP) 1937: Pittsburgh 1938: TCU 1939: Texas A&M 1940: Minnesota 1941: Minnesota 1942: Ohio State 1943: Notre Dame 1944: Army 1945: Army (AP) / Oklahoma A&M (AFCA) 1946: Notre Dame 1947: Notre Dame 1948: Michigan 1949: Notre Dame
1950s	1950: Oklahoma (AP, Coaches) 1951: Tennessee 1952: Michigan State 1953: Maryland 1954: Ohio State (AP) / UCLA (FWAA, Coaches) 1955: Oklahoma 1956: Oklahoma 1957: Auburn (AP) / Ohio State (Coaches, FWAA) 1958: LSU (AP, Coaches) / Iowa (FWAA) 1959: Syracuse (AP, Coaches, FWAA, NFF)
1960s	1960: Minnesota (AP, Coaches, NFF) / Ole Miss (FWAA) 1961: Alabama (AP, Coaches, NFF) / Ohio State (FWAA) 1962: USC 1963: Texas 1964: Alabama (AP, Coaches) / Arkansas (FWAA) / Notre Dame (NFF) 1965: Alabama (AP, FWAA) / Michigan State (Coaches, FWAA, NFF) 1966: Notre Dame (AP, Coaches, FWAA, NFF) / Michigan State (NFF) 1967: USC 1968: Ohio State 1969: Texas
1970s	1970: Nebraska (AP, FWAA) / Texas (NFF, Coaches) / Ohio State (NFF) 1971: Nebraska 1972: USC 1973: Notre Dame (AP, FWAA, NFF) / Alabama (Coaches) 1974: Oklahoma (AP) / USC (FWAA, NFF, Coaches) 1975: Oklahoma 1976: Pittsburgh 1977: Notre Dame 1978: Alabama (AP, FWAA, NFF) / USC (Coaches) 1979: Alabama
1980–1991	1980: Georgia 1981: Clemson 1982: Penn State 1983: Miami (FL) 1984: BYU 1985: Oklahoma 1986: Penn State 1987: Miami (FL) 1988: Notre Dame 1989: Miami (FL) 1990: Colorado (AP, FWAA, NFF, USAT/CNN) / Georgia Tech (Coaches) 1991: Miami (FL) (AP) / Washington (Coaches, FWAA, UPI/NFF)