This season, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish start the season on a Sunday night in Florida during Labor Day weekend in a game against the Florida State Seminoles. It’s a goofy way to start the season. Before we go any further, the word “goofy” here isn’t necessarily a negative — it just means that it’s not a game on a Saturday in a college stadium.
Notre Dame has played in eight of these goofy games since 1986, which makes this year’s season opener as game nine. In all but one of these eight games, the Irish were led by either Lou Holtz or Brian Kelly.