SMU at Notre Dame

Saturday, October 14, 1939

Notre Dame beat SMU 20–⁠19. It was their second meeting; after it, Notre Dame led the series 2–⁠0.

AwaySMU6–⁠3–⁠1 in 1939
19
HomeNotre Dame7–⁠2 in 1939
20

FinalAttendance 29,730

In the newspapers

  • The The Daily Alaska empire's story: FoorBALL SCORES

    The Daily Alaska empire, October 16, 1939, page 5 (results column)

    Read the text

    FoorBALL SCORES The following arc final scores of football games played in various parts of the Nation last Saturday afternoon Oregon 6; California 0. University of Washington 0; Washington State 6. U.CLA. IA; Stanford IA. tie. Oregon State IA; University of Portland 12. Illinois 0; Southern California 26. Idaho 0; Gonzaga 19. Carnegie Tech 21; Case O. Iowa T; Michigan 27 Ohio Wesleyan 12; Ohio 2. Brown 0; Colgate 10. Duke 13; Pitt IA. Cornell 20; Princeton T. Penn 6; Yale o. Army 6; Columbia g. tie. Dartmouth c; Navy o, tie. Northwestern 0; Ohio State IS. Texas Christian II; Temple 13. Fordham 0; Tulane ‘. Nebraska 10; Iowa State ‘. Purdue 13; Minnesota 13, tie. Southern Methodist 19; Notre Dame 20 Harvard 61; Chicago 0. New York U. ‘; North Caro- lima IA. Marquette IT; Michigan State IA. Lehigh T; Penn State 49. Western Reserve 19; Boston U, IA. Detroit 13; Catholic U. IA. Colorado o; Kansas State 20. Holy Cross 13; Georgia 0. Georgetown 13; Syracuse 13, tie. Valparaiso 13; Indiana State 12. Coast Guard Academy T; Nor wich IT.

  • The The Nome nugget's story: Football Scores

    The Nome nugget, Alaska, October 16, 1939, page 1 (results column)

    Read the text

    Football Scores Oct. IA Duke Thirteen-Pitt 14 Cornell 20-Princeton 2 Penn 6-Yale 0 Army 6-Columbia 6 Tie Dartmouth 0-Navy 0 Tie Northwestern 0-Ohio State 13 Texas Christian 1l-Temple 13 Fordham 0-Tulane 2 Nebraska 10-IoWa State 2 Purdue 13-Minesota 13 Tie Southern Methodist 19-- Notre Dame 20 Harvard 61-Chicago 0 Oregon 6-California0 Washington 0-Wash. State 6 UCLA 14-Stanford IA Tie Oregon State 14-U of Portland 12 Illinois 0-Southern Cal 26

Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The text is the machine reading of the page, mistakes and all.

On the newsreel

  • “IRISH” TOP S.M.U13,000 football fans are the So. Methodist "Mustangs" lose a thrilling game in the final seconds of plays, 20-19Universal Newsreel, October 16, 1939. Catalog record at the National Archives

Universal Newsreel, National Archives (catalog record). Story titles and words as Universal’s release sheet gives them; the films themselves may still be under copyright, so we link to the record rather than show them.

Before kickoff

Our ratings going in

Our ratings (scores only)

Notre Dame 72% to win. Elo’s favorite won.

Notre Dame leads 10–⁠3 in 13 meetings, counting the 11 since this game.

Recent meetings
1989Notre Dame 59, SMU 6
1986Notre Dame 61, SMU 29
1984SMU 27, Notre Dame 20Aloha Bowl
1958Notre Dame 14, SMU 6
1957Notre Dame 54, SMU 21
1956SMU 19, Notre Dame 13

Around this game

SMU

Notre Dame