Notre Dame vs. Pennsylvania

Notre Dame and Pennsylvania have 6 meetings on file, the first in 1930; Notre Dame leads the series 5–⁠0–⁠1 in the games on file. Over the last 6 meetings it’s Notre Dame 5–⁠0, and Notre Dame has won the last 3.

Notre Dame wins
5
Pennsylvania wins
0
Ties
1
Earliest on file
1930
Longest streak
3 Notre Dame
Current streak
3 Notre Dame
Last 10 meetings
Notre Dame 5–⁠0
Most recent
1955

The series at a glance

Every meeting by decade, colored by the winner
’0’1’2’3’4’5’6’7’8’9W–L
1930s2–⁠0
1950s3–⁠0–⁠1
Both ranked
1 meeting: Notre Dame 0, Pennsylvania 0
Average margin
27.3 points; 1 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
At Notre Dame
1–⁠0 Notre Dame’s record at home
At Pennsylvania
0–⁠4–⁠1 Pennsylvania’s record at home
Shutouts
1

Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.

Games that tell the story

  1. Notre Dame’s biggest win1931: Notre Dame 49, Pennsylvania 0by 49 points
  2. Ranked showdown1952: Notre Dame 7, Pennsylvania 7 (tie)No. 10 Notre Dame at No. 12 Pennsylvania

Both programs through the years

End-of-season Elo ratings of Notre Dame and Pennsylvania, 1930 on13001500170019401960198020002020

Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.

From the newspapers

  • The Brownsville herald. (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current's story of the 1930 game: PITT DAZzLED p BY Wild ORGY Notre Dame Backs Stage Great Demonstration OF Strength

    1930 · Brownsville herald. (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, Texas, Nov 9, 1930

  • The Evening star's story of the 1931 game: IRISH SWAMP PENN BY 49TO0 SCORE Count Almost at win With Offensive Strength That Amazes 35, 900 Fans.

    1931 · Evening star, Washington, D.C., Nov 8, 1931

  • The Evening star's story of the 1954 game: NOTRE DAME AZ PENNSYLVANIA = Y Oklahoma Crushes Iowa State, 400, in 18th Straight Victory

    1954 · Evening star, Washington, D.C., Nov 7, 1954

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 earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.

Every game

Nov 5, 1955Notre Dame 46, Pennsylvania 14at Pennsylvania
Nov 6, 19545Notre Dame 42, Pennsylvania 7at Pennsylvania
Nov 7, 19531Notre Dame 28, Pennsylvania 20at Pennsylvania
Sep 27, 195212Pennsylvania 7, 10Notre Dame 7at Pennsylvania
Nov 7, 1931Notre Dame 49, Pennsylvania 0at Notre Dame
Nov 8, 1930Notre Dame 60, Pennsylvania 20at Pennsylvania

Every game is listed as played on the field.