Northwestern and Notre Dame Renew College Football Rivalry

To say it is a rivalry would be a little far fetched. Notre Dame does own a 37-8-2 record in their 47 meetings. However, Northwestern owns the latest victory via their 17-15 win in the magical season of 1995.

That was the end of the 4 game series that saw Notre Dame dominate the Wildcats in three of the four meetings. But today the rivalry was renewed as it was announced on ESPN's Mike and Mike that Notre Dame would host the Cats on November 15th of 2014. Northwestern would host the Irish in Evanston (not in Soldier field as in the past) sometime in 2018. It will be the first trip for the Irish into Evanston since 1976.

In a prepared statement Northwestern AD Jim Phillips said:

"Northwestern and Notre Dame represent two of the finest academic institutions in the nation, and it's only fitting that we renew our rivalry on the football field."

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said in a radio interview that, "It just makes sense," making reference to the schools geographic locations and Notre Dame's recruiting interests in the Windy City.

Although looking forward to the 2014 game is nearly impossible because it is so far away, you can always look back to the last game they played.

Northwestern was heavy underdogs heading into South Bend against a National Title contender in Ron Powlus. The Wildcat defense made big plays when they needed to, and Darnell Autry began his assault on opposing college defenses as the Wildcats finished off what many consider to be one of the biggest upsets in college football, 17-15.

Since then many Wildcat fans have said the Golden Domers were afraid to play them, while Irish fans have said there was no reason to play them. There have been many discussions on the impact of the '95 game. Some feel if the Irish had yet another convincing win then they would have renewed the series down the line.

Nevertheless come 2014 the battle for Chicago-land bragging rights will continue and the Irish will get their chance for revenge some 19 years later, while the Cats will be looking to show they are the better Chicago area program.