Notre Dame’s bowl history has a hole in the middle of it. The Fighting Irish won the 1925 Rose Bowl, then declined every postseason invitation for the next 44 seasons. When they finally returned in 1970, several of their national championships had already come and gone without a single bowl game.
Every Notre Dame Bowl Game
| Date | Bowl | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 1, 1925 | Rose Bowl | W 27 to 10 vs Stanford |
| No bowl games, 1925 through 1968 seasons | ||
| Jan 1, 1970 | Cotton Bowl | L 17 to 21 vs Texas |
| Jan 1, 1971 | Cotton Bowl | W 24 to 11 vs Texas |
| Jan 1, 1973 | Orange Bowl | L 6 to 40 vs Nebraska |
| Dec 31, 1973 | Sugar Bowl | W 24 to 23 vs Alabama |
| Jan 1, 1975 | Orange Bowl | W 13 to 11 vs Alabama |
| Dec 27, 1976 | Gator Bowl | W 20 to 9 vs Penn State |
| Jan 2, 1978 | Cotton Bowl | W 38 to 10 vs Texas |
| Jan 1, 1979 | Cotton Bowl | W 35 to 34 vs Houston |
| Jan 1, 1981 | Sugar Bowl | L 10 to 17 vs Georgia |
| Dec 29, 1983 | Liberty Bowl | W 19 to 18 vs Boston College |
| Dec 29, 1984 | Aloha Bowl | L 20 to 27 vs SMU |
| Jan 1, 1988 | Cotton Bowl | L 10 to 35 vs Texas A&M |
| Jan 2, 1989 | Fiesta Bowl | W 34 to 21 vs West Virginia |
| Jan 1, 1990 | Orange Bowl | W 21 to 6 vs Colorado |
| Jan 1, 1991 | Orange Bowl | L 9 to 10 vs Colorado |
| Jan 1, 1992 | Sugar Bowl | W 39 to 28 vs Florida |
| Jan 1, 1993 | Cotton Bowl | W 28 to 3 vs Texas A&M |
| Jan 1, 1994 | Cotton Bowl | W 24 to 21 vs Texas A&M |
| Jan 2, 1995 | Fiesta Bowl | L 24 to 41 vs Colorado |
| Jan 1, 1996 | Orange Bowl | L 26 to 31 vs Florida State |
| Dec 28, 1997 | Independence Bowl | L 9 to 27 vs LSU |
| Jan 1, 1999 | Gator Bowl | L 28 to 35 vs Georgia Tech |
| Jan 1, 2001 | Fiesta Bowl | L 9 to 41 vs Oregon State |
| Jan 1, 2003 | Gator Bowl | L 6 to 28 vs NC State |
| Dec 28, 2004 | Insight Bowl | L 21 to 38 vs Oregon State |
| Jan 2, 2006 | Fiesta Bowl | L 20 to 34 vs Ohio State |
| Jan 3, 2007 | Sugar Bowl | L 14 to 41 vs LSU |
| Dec 24, 2008 | Hawaii Bowl | W 49 to 21 vs Hawaii |
| Dec 31, 2010 | Sun Bowl | W 33 to 17 vs Miami |
| Dec 29, 2011 | Champs Sports Bowl | L 14 to 18 vs Florida State |
| Jan 7, 2013 | BCS Championship | L 14 to 42 vs Alabama |
| Dec 28, 2013 | Pinstripe Bowl | W 29 to 16 vs Rutgers |
| Dec 30, 2014 | Music City Bowl | W 31 to 28 vs LSU |
| Jan 1, 2016 | Fiesta Bowl | L 28 to 44 vs Ohio State |
| Jan 1, 2018 | Citrus Bowl | W 21 to 17 vs LSU |
| Dec 29, 2018 | Cotton Bowl (CFP semifinal) | L 3 to 30 vs Clemson |
| Dec 28, 2019 | Camping World Bowl | W 33 to 9 vs Iowa State |
| Jan 1, 2021 | Rose Bowl (CFP semifinal) | L 14 to 31 vs Alabama |
| Jan 1, 2022 | Fiesta Bowl | L 35 to 37 vs Oklahoma State |
| Dec 30, 2022 | Gator Bowl | W 45 to 38 vs South Carolina |
| Dec 29, 2023 | Sun Bowl | W 40 to 8 vs Oregon State |
| Dec 20, 2024 | CFP first round | W 27 to 17 vs Indiana |
| Jan 2, 2025 | Sugar Bowl (CFP quarterfinal) | W 23 to 10 vs Georgia |
| Jan 9, 2025 | Orange Bowl (CFP semifinal) | W 27 to 24 vs Penn State |
| Jan 20, 2025 | CFP Championship | L 23 to 34 vs Ohio State |
Gold rows are national championship seasons. Red rows are championship game or playoff losses.
The 1925 Rose Bowl
Knute Rockne’s Four Horsemen beat Stanford 27 to 10 in Pasadena to finish 10 and 0 and claim the program’s first national championship. It was a perfect first bowl game. It was also the last one for a very long time.
The Ban
After 1925, Notre Dame adopted a policy of refusing all bowl invitations. The reasoning was academic: the university did not want football extending into the January exam period, and its leadership considered postseason games a distraction from the school’s purpose.
The policy held for 44 seasons. During that stretch Notre Dame won national championships in 1929, 1930, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949 and 1966, all without playing a bowl game. Sportswriter Dan Jenkins estimated the Irish might have played as many as twenty bowls had they accepted invitations.
That single decision is why Notre Dame sits 18th in bowl appearances despite being one of the most decorated programs in the sport. Our page on most bowl appearances has the full ranking.
The Return
Ara Parseghian’s 1969 team ended the ban, accepting a Cotton Bowl bid against top ranked Texas. Joe Theismann led a go ahead touchdown drive with under seven minutes left, but Billy Dale’s late touchdown plunge gave Texas a 21 to 17 win and the national title.
Notre Dame came back a year later and beat top ranked Texas 24 to 11 in the same bowl, ending the Longhorns’ 30 game winning streak.
The Nine Game Streak
From the 1995 Fiesta Bowl through the 2007 Sugar Bowl, Notre Dame lost nine consecutive bowl games. No program in NCAA history has lost more in a row. The stretch spanned four head coaches and included losses in the Fiesta, Orange, Independence, Gator, Insight and Sugar Bowls.
It ended with a 49 to 21 Hawaii Bowl win in 2008, which tells you something about how far the program had fallen from the Holtz years.
The Playoff Era
Notre Dame has reached the College Football Playoff three times, in 2018, 2020 and 2024. The first two ended in semifinal losses, 30 to 3 against Clemson in the Cotton Bowl and 31 to 14 against Alabama in the Rose Bowl.
The 2024 run was different. Under Marcus Freeman the Irish won three playoff games, beating Indiana, Georgia and Penn State, before losing the national championship game 34 to 23 to Ohio State. It was the program’s first appearance in a title game since the 2013 BCS final, which they lost to Alabama 42 to 14.
Our College Football Playoff results page has every championship game.
Record by Bowl
Notre Dame’s best bowl is the Cotton Bowl, where they are 5 and 3 including the 2018 playoff semifinal. They are 2 and 3 in the Orange Bowl, 3 and 2 in the Sugar Bowl, and 1 and 4 in the Fiesta Bowl. They have won their only traditional Rose Bowl appearance, in 1925, and lost the 2021 playoff semifinal played there.
The Bottom Line
Notre Dame is 25 and 21 in 46 postseason games. The record is defined by a 44 year self imposed ban that cost the program an estimated twenty bowl games and left seven national championship seasons without a postseason. Their nine straight bowl losses from 1995 to 2007 remain an NCAA record, and their 2024 playoff run was the deepest in program history.