Notre Dame trivia question of the week
Notre Dame and Ohio State will face off in a highly anticipated, prime-time, top-10 showdown at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday in South Bend. It will mark the eighth meeting between the two schools and just the third at Notre Dame Stadium. OSU leads the all-time series 5-2 and has won the last five matchups.
The Fighting Irish are ranked No. 9 in both the Associated Press and AFCA Coaches polls, while the Buckeyes are listed No. 6 by the AP and No. 4 by the coaches. How many of times in the first seven matchups were both teams ranked in the AP top 10?
A. 7
B. 0
C. 5
D. 4
Answer: D. This week’s matchup will be the fifth straight in which both teams are ranked in the AP top 10. In 1996, the No. 4 Buckeyes knocked off the No. 5 Irish 29-16 in South Bend. The two teams squared off in the Fiesta Bowl following 2005 season, with No. 4 Ohio State knocking off the No. 5 Irish 34-20. They also met in the Fiesta Bowl following the 2015 campaign, and the No. 7 Buckeyes defeated the No. 8 Irish 44-28. Finally, last year, No. 2 OSU scored a couple late touchdowns to fend off No. 5 Notre Dame 21-10.
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The two teams were both ranked for their 1995 meeting in Columbus, but the Irish were outside the top 10 at No. 15 while Buckeyes were No. 7. Neither team was ranked for the first two meetings in 1935 and 1936, in part because the AP poll wasn’t established until 1936.
The 1935 matchup was famously dubbed the “Game of the Century” but the AP did not have official rankings. The AP news service published a weekly top 10 that was made by AP sports editor Alan Gould. At the end of the 1935 season, the United Press polled 141 sports writers from all sections of the country, and Ohio State (7-1) finished at No. 5 while the Irish (7-1-1, with the tie coming against Army) were No. 8 despite having taken down the Buckeyes 18-13 in Columbus. In 1936, neither team appeared in the AP poll the week of Notre Dame’s 7-2 triumph in South Bend. At the end of that season, Notre Dame (6-2) finished at No. 8 and the Buckeyes (5-3) were not ranked.
