Notre Dame – Texas Set for Primetime Kickoff

For Notre Dame fans aching for some Fighting Irish football come September 5th, they will have to wait just a bit longer for their fix with Notre Dame announcing that the start time for the 2015 season opener will be 7:30 PM ET.

It had long been rumored that the Notre Dame – Texas showdown was headed for a primetime kickoff with a Nascar race scheduled for 3:30 the same day on NBC and the contractual obligation for Notre Dame to play five primetime games in a rolling two year period.  For that same reason, many believe the USC game on October 17 will be slated for primetime as well.

The annual Shamrock Series game will almost certainly be a primetime kick-off as all previous iterations have been even though kick-off for the Boston College game in Fenway has yet to be officially announced.

Notre Dame Stadium has been hosting night games again for the last four seasons, but this will be the first time since resuming them that a team other than USC or Michigan will be the featured opponent.  USC was Notre Dame’s opponent in 2011 and 2013 for night games in the House that Rock Built while Michigan filled the role in 2012 and 2014.

The 2015 season opener will mark Texas’s first trip to Notre Dame Stadium in 20 years.  The last time the Longhorns were in town was 1995 when the Lou Holtz led Fighting Irish ran Texas out of the stadium to the tune of 55-27.  The game had been in doubt until the 4th quarter when Notre Dame erupted for 28 points including three Marc Edwards touchdowns (2 rush, 1 receiving) and an Allen Rossum interception return.  New Notre Dame running backs coach Autry Denson had 10 carries for 61 yards in the contest as well.

A year later Notre Dame traveled to Austin and while the outcome was much more dramatic, the Irish came out on top again 27-24 thanks to a game winning field goal from then freshman kicker Jim Sampson as time expired.  Denson had a monster game in Austin with 158 yards on 24 carries including the game tying 6 yard touchdown run on 4th and goal from the 6 with just under three minutes remaining in the contest.