Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh
Notre Dame and Pittsburgh have 74 meetings on file, the first in 1909; officially, Notre Dame leads 51–21–1; as played, 52–21–1 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s Notre Dame 8–2, and Notre Dame has won the last 5. The NCAA vacated Notre Dame’s win (2012); it doesn’t count officially. This page counts every game as it was played. Share
2028 at Pittsburgh; 2031 at Pittsburgh; 2033 at Notre Dame; 2034 at Pittsburgh; 2036 at Notre Dame. As the programs’ Wikipedia articles list them (CC BY-SA).
- Official series
- Notre Dame leads 51–21–1
- Notre Dame wins on file
- 52
- Pittsburgh wins on file
- 21
- Ties
- 1
- Earliest on file
- 1909
- Longest streak
- 11 Notre Dame
- Current streak
- 5 Notre Dame
- Last 10 meetings
- Notre Dame 8–2
- Most recent
- 2025
The series at a glance
| ’0 | ’1 | ’2 | ’3 | ’4 | ’5 | ’6 | ’7 | ’8 | ’9 | W–L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 1–0 | ||||||||||
| 1910s | 1–0–1 | ||||||||||
| 1930s | 3–5 | ||||||||||
| 1940s | 6–0 | ||||||||||
| 1950s | 5–4 | ||||||||||
| 1960s | 8–2 | ||||||||||
| 1970s | 7–2 | ||||||||||
| 1980s | 3–3 | ||||||||||
| 1990s | 6–1 | ||||||||||
| 2000s | 4–3 | ||||||||||
| 2010s | 5–1 | ||||||||||
| 2020s | 3–0 |
- Both ranked
- 10 meetings: Notre Dame 7, Pittsburgh 3; 3 both in the top 10
- Average margin
- 19.6 points; 23 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
- At Notre Dame
- 23–10 Notre Dame’s record at home
- At Pittsburgh
- 11–29–1 Pittsburgh’s record at home
- Shutouts
- 15
Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.
Games that tell the story
- Notre Dame’s biggest win1944: Notre Dame 58, Pittsburgh 0by 58 points
- Pittsburgh’s biggest win1936: Pittsburgh 26, Notre Dame 0by 26 points
- Upset1952: Pittsburgh 22, Notre Dame 19Pittsburgh had a 23% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1982: Notre Dame 31, Pittsburgh 16Notre Dame had a 24% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset2003: Notre Dame 20, Pittsburgh 14Notre Dame had a 28% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Ranked showdown1989: Notre Dame 45, Pittsburgh 7No. 7 Pittsburgh at No. 1 Notre Dame
- Ranked showdown1977: Notre Dame 19, Pittsburgh 9No. 3 Notre Dame at No. 7 Pittsburgh
- Ranked showdown1937: Pittsburgh 21, Notre Dame 6No. 3 Pittsburgh at No. 12 Notre Dame
Coach against coach
| Years | Notre Dame | Series | Pittsburgh |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1931–1933 | Hunk Anderson | 1–2 | Jock Sutherland |
| 1934–1937 | Elmer Layden | 1–3 | Jock Sutherland |
| 1956–1958 | Terry Brennan | 1–2 | John Michelosen |
| 1959–1962 | Joe Kuharich | 2–2 | John Michelosen |
| 1966–1968 | Ara Parseghian | 3–0 | Dave Hart |
| 1969–1972 | Ara Parseghian | 4–0 | Carl DePasqua |
| 1986–1989 | Lou Holtz | 2–2 | Mike Gottfried |
| 1990–1992 | Lou Holtz | 3–0 | Paul Hackett |
| 1997–2001 | Bob Davie | 2–1 | Walt Harris |
| 2002–2004 | Tyrone Willingham | 2–1 | Walt Harris |
| 2005–2009 | Charlie Weis | 1–2 | Dave Wannstedt |
| 2015–2020 | Brian Kelly | 3–0 | Pat Narduzzi |
Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Notre Dame’s side (Anderson 1–2 against Sutherland). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.
Both programs through the years
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.
Stars of the series
Biggest days
| Tyler Palko Pittsburgh | 26 of 42, 334 yards, 5 TD | 2004 Passing | |
| Rasheem Biles Pittsburgh | 9 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 2 for loss, 1 INT, 1 TD | 2025 Defense |
Biggest days: the week’s best individual games by our big-days rule, from box scores (2004 on).
From the newspapers
1909 · Evening star, Washington, D.C., Oct 31, 1909
1911 · The Fargo forum and daily republican, Fargo, N.D., Nov 6, 1911
1912 · The daily Gate City, Keokuk, Iowa, Nov 3, 1912
1930 · The Daily Alaska empire, Alaska, Oct 27, 1930
1931 · The Daily Alaska empire, Alaska, Oct 26, 1931
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.
On television
ESPN’s College GameDay has broadcast from this game twice: 2025, 2005.
| 2025 | ABC | 4.0 million viewers |
College GameDay’s sites from Wikipedia’s list of its locations (CC BY-SA). Viewers: Nielsen, as compiled by nschultz7’s ratings tracker.
Every game
Every game is listed as played on the field; a win the NCAA later vacated is marked “vacated”; the official series above counts them the NCAA’s way.