Notre Dame will take on Michigan on Sept. 10 in the first night game ever played at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, affectionately known as “The Big House.” But nearly 30 years ago, the Fighting Irish and the Wolverines also met in the first night game ever played at Notre Dame Stadium.
I remember that game well. I covered it as a journalist not long after I graduated from Notre Dame.
Just as this year’s game “under the lights” at Michigan is being celebrated as an historic occasion, so too was the first night game at Notre Dame on Sept. 18, 1982.
The Irish were opening the season under second-year coach Gerry Faust, who had led Notre Dame to its first losing season in a generation the year before. The Wolverines were ranked No. 10 in the country off an opening-game win against Wisconsin and were led by All-American receiver Anthony Carter. It seemed destined to be a Michigan blowout that would embarrass Notre Dame in front of a national prime-time television audience.
Legendary Michigan coach Bo Schembechler certainly wasn’t concerned with Notre Dame.
“I’m more worried about how I’m going to tape my TV show,” he said the day before the game. “We’ll get back home at 2:30 a.m. Sunday, and I’ll have to go straight into the studio. I’ll be falling asleep on the air.”
At Notre Dame, the biggest concerns were logistics. A company from Iowa, Musco Mobile Lighting, had erected giant cranes outside the stadium and suspended banks of lights that peered over the top rows. Campus security was on high alert, worried about the effects of day-long tailgating and a student body that might be overly-fueled with alcohol by the night-time kickoff.
Notre Dame ended up winning the game that night, 23-17, in a thriller that wasn’t decided until Irish defensive back Dave Duerson intercepted a pass deep in ND territory as Michigan seemed to be driving for a potential winning touchdown.
Twice more over the next eight years, Notre Dame and Michigan played under the lights in South Bend, with the Irish topping the Wolverines in those games as well. But night games remain a rarity at Notre Dame, even after stadium expansion and renovation included the installation of permanent lights in 1997. In fact, there have been no prime-time games played at Notre Dame since the Irish faced Michigan 21 years ago. Later this season, however, Notre Dame will play host USC in a night game.
“While we will do this only on a selective basis, we think it is important to occasionally use the platform of a prime-time game to promote the University and our football program,” says Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick. “When you look back at the previous home night games we’ve played, a number of those have been hallmark events in the history of our program. We are confident this year’s USC game will continue that tradition.”
The Wolverines use a similar rationale for breaking with tradition in Ann Arbor.
“Playing night games is part of what creates a big, exciting atmosphere in college football,” Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon says. “I know that being out there under the lights, in prime-time in front of a national audience is something special. And we want to be a part of things that are special at the University of Michigan, so I’m pleased and proud that we’re doing this.”
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Rick Blaine, an award-winning broadcaster and columnist, holds two degrees from Notre Dame.