Countdown to kickoff: Notre Dame vs. Ohio State only 38 days away
To preview one of the most anticipated games for Notre Dame this century and the official start of the Marcus Freeman era, BlueandGold.com is counting down the days to the matchup against Ohio State on Sept. 3.
This daily series of 99 stories celebrates by the numbers some of the most notable names, dates, moments and memories related to the past and present of Notre Dame football.
Today, with 38 days remaining until kickoff, we commemorate the 1938 football season, during which Notre Dame went 8-1, just missing out on a national championship.
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The 1938 Irish team entered the season coming off of a 6-2-1 campaign and with much to prove. With the exception of 1933, Notre Dame had been solid since the 1931 death of former head coach Knute Rockne, but the team hadn’t been elite.
The Irish were coached by Elmer Layden, who was one of Rockne’s “Four Horsemen” and later the first commissioner of the NFL. It was Layden’s fifth season at the helm, and it got off to an elite start with a 52-0 drubbing of Kansas. Notre Dame took the next seven games by a smaller margin — four of the wins were by eight points or fewer — but they were victories nonetheless. Fort Wayne, Ind., native Steve Sitko was the starting quarterback.
The Irish surrendered just 445 total passing yards over nine games (49.4 yards per game), which remains a program modern record.
Notre Dame walked into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Dec. 3, 1938 with a chance at a perfect season. The 8-0 Irish were ranked No. 1 in the nation. The rival Trojans were No. 8 with a 7-2 record.
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In total, 97,146 people were on-site in Southern California that day, and they witnessed a complete shutdown of the Irish offense in a 13-0 USC victory. Notre Dame had shut out four opponents to date during that season, but they hadn’t been shut out themselves.
The loss cost Notre Dame a potential consensus national title, which would have been the fourth claimed championship and first not won by a head coach with the last name Rockne. Instead, the Irish fell to No. 5 and were named the national champion by the Dickinson System. The season officially went down as an unclaimed national title and is one of five times the Trojans have spoiled an Irish shot at a national title to end the season.
