2021 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

The 2021 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame in the 2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was led by Brian Kelly in his 12th season at Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish played their home games at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

2021 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Conference	Independent
Head coach	Brian Kelly (12th season)
Offensive coordinator	Tommy Rees (2st season)
Defensive coordinator	Marcus Freeman (1st season)
Base defense	4–2–5
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium (Capacity: 80,795)[1]
Uniform

2021 NCAA Division I FBS independents football records
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Army			–						0	–	0
BYU			–						0	–	0
Liberty			–						0	–	0
New Mexico State			–						0	–	0
Notre Dame			–						0	–	0
UConn			–						0	–	0
UMass			–						0	–	0
As of February 1, 2021; Rankings from AP Poll.

Previous season

The 2020 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team finished 10–2 on the season with a 31–14 loss to Alabama in the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff semi-final in Arlington, Texas. They finished at No. 5 in the final AP Poll of the 2020 season.

Offseason

Departures

• RB/WR Jafar Armstrong (Transferred to Illinois)
• DT Ja’Mion Franklin (Transferred to Duke)
• C Colin Grunhard (Transferred to Kansas)
• LB Jordan Heath (Transferred to UCLA)
• DE Ovie Oghoufo (Transferred to Texas)
• OL John Olmstead (Transferred to Lafayette)
• CB Isaiah Rutherford (Transferred to Arizona)
• DE Kofi Wardlow (Transferred to Charlotte
• LB Jack Lamb (entered transfer portal)
• RB Jahmir Smith (entered transfer portal)
• WR/DB Isaiah Robertson (entered transfer portal)

Coaching changes

Clark Lea, former defensive coordinator of the Fighting Irish, accepted a position as head football coach of Vanderbilt. He was replaced by former Cincinnati defensive-coordinator Marcus Freeman.

Personnel

Schedule

The 2021 schedule was officially released on April 25, 2019.[2] The neutral site game at Soldier Field has been designated the Shamrock Series game, although television rights are owned and operated by the Big Ten Network.[3]

Date	Opponent	Site	TV	Result
September 5	at Florida State	Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL	ABC
September 11	Toledo	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	NBC
September 18	Purdue	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	NBC
September 25	vs. Wisconsin	Soldier Field Chicago, IL (Shamrock Series)
October 2	Cincinnati	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	NBC
October 9	at Virginia Tech	Lane Stadium Blacksburg, VA
October 23	USC	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	NBC
October 30	North Carolina	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	NBC
November 6	Navy	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	NBC
November 13	at Virginia	Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA
November 20	Georgia Tech	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	NBC
November 27	at Stanford	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP
Coaches
CFP	{{{cfp_pre}}}	{{{cfp_1}}}	{{{cfp_2}}}	{{{cfp_3}}}	{{{cfp_4}}}	{{{cfp_5}}}	{{{cfp_6}}}	{{{cfp_7}}}	{{{cfp_8}}}	{{{cfp_9}}}	{{{cfp_10}}}	{{{cfp_11}}}				Not released

Game summaries

Florida State

Notre Dame at Florida State

1 2 3 4 Total Fighting Irish - - - - 0 Seminoles - - - - 0 Date: September 5, 2021 Location: Doak Campbell Stadium Tallahassee, FL Game weather: Temperature: Television network: ABC

Toledo at Notre Dame

1 2 3 4 Total Rockets - - - - 0 Fighting Irish - - - - 0 Date: September 11, 2021 Location: Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN Game weather: Temperature: Television network: NBC

Purdue at Notre Dame

1 2 3 4 Total Boilermakers - - - - 0 Fighting Irish - - - - 0 Date: September 18, 2021 Location: Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN Game weather: Temperature: Television network: NBC

Notre Dame vs Wisconsin

1 2 3 4 Total Fighting Irish - - - - 0 Badgers - - - - 0 Date: September 25, 2021 Location: Soldier Field Chicago, IL Game weather: Temperature:

Cincinnati at Notre Dame

1 2 3 4 Total Bearcats - - - - 0 Fighting Irish - - - - 0 Date: October 2, 2021 Location: Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN Game weather: Temperature: Television network: NBC

Notre Dame at Virginia Tech

1 2 3 4 Total Fighting Irish - - - - 0 Hokies - - - - 0 Date: October 9, 2021 Location: Lane Stadium Blacksburg, VA Game weather: Temperature:

USC at Notre Dame

1 2 3 4 Total Trojans - - - - 0 Fighting Irish - - - - 0 Date: October 23, 2021 Location: Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN Game weather: Temperature: Television network: NBC

North Carolina at Notre Dame

1 2 3 4 Total Tar Heels - - - - 0 Fighting Irish - - - - 0 Date: October 30, 2021 Location: Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN Game weather: Temperature: Television network: NBC

Navy at Notre Dame

1 2 3 4 Total Midshipmen - - - - 0 Fighting Irish - - - - 0 Date: November 6, 2021 Location: Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN Game weather: Temperature: Television network: NBC

Notre Dame at Virginia

1 2 3 4 Total Fighting Irish - - - - 0 Cavaliers - - - - 0 Date: November 13, 2021 Location: Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA Game weather: Temperature:

Georgia Tech at Notre Dame

1 2 3 4 Total Georgia Tech - - - - 0 Notre Dame - - - - 0 Date: November 20, 2021 Location: Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN Game weather: Temperature: Television network: NBC

Notre Dame at Stanford

1 2 3 4 Total Fighting Irish - - - - 0 Cardinal - - - - 0 Date: November 27, 2021 Location: Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA Game weather: Temperature:

References

1. https://und.com/facilities-notre-dame-stadium-html/ (2020)
2. "2021 Football Schedule Announced". und.com. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
3. Rittenberg, Adam. "Notre Dame-Wisconsin matchups to be played at Lambeau Field, Soldier Field". espn.com. Retrieved August 14, 2017.