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 Welcome to
Notre Dame
Apparel
North American football did not have a
great start at
the University of Notre Dame - and you can get Notre Dame
Apparel right here. In their initial game on
November 23, eighteen-eighty-seven the Irish lost to Michigan by
8–0. Their initial win came in the final game of the
eighteen-eighty-eight season when the Fightin' Irish beat Harvard Prep by
20–0. At the end of the eighteen-eighty-eight season they had a record of 1–3
with all three losses being at the hands of Michigan by a
combined score of 43–9. Between eighteen-eighty-seven and
eighteen-eighty-nine Notre Dame Fightin' Irish
compiled a record of 31 wins, 15 losses, and 4 ties against
a great variety of opponents ranging from local high
school teams to other schools.
At the start of the 20th century college football began
to increase in popularity and became more standardized with
the introduction of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association
of the United States (IAAUS) in 1906. That organization
would become the NCAA in 1910. Notre Dame carried on with its
success during this period and managed their first win
over Michigan in 1909 by 11–3 after which Michigan would not
compete against Notre Dame until 33 years later. By
the finish of the 1912 season the Fightin' Irish had gained a record of 108
wins, 31 losses, and 13 ties.
 Jesse Harper was promoted to head coach in 1913 and stayed until
retirement in 1917. During his tenure the the Fightin' Irish
started competing in only intercollegiate games and posted a record of 34
wins, 5 losses, and 1 tie. This era would also mark the
start of the rivalry with Army and the continuation of
rivalries with Michigan State.
In 1913, Notre Dame the Fightin' Irish sprang into the
American consciousness
and transformed the collegiate game in a just one
contest. In an effort to gain respect for a regionally
successful but small-time Midwestern football program,
Jesse Harper scheduled games in his first season with the
powerful Texas, Penn State, and Army. On November 1,
1913, the Notre Dame squad stunned the Black Knights of the
Hudson 35-13 in a game played at West Point. Led by
quarterback Charlie "Gus" Dorais and end (soon to be
legendary future coach) Knute Rockne, the Notre Dame team
launched against
the Cadets with an offense that featured both the legendary running game but also long and accurate downfield
forward passes from Dorais to Rockne. Though this game has
been incorrectly credited as the "invention of the forward pass", it
was actually the first major contest in which a less
sizeable team
with a modern and very balanced offense managed to beat a
bigger and more
experienced team that depended on the running game by
itself.
If you are a Notre Dame fan and require some great Notre
Dame apparel, you've come to the right place. Please feel
free to browse our site and buy your Notre Dame apparel with
confidence.
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