What was the funniest Notre Dame football loss ever?

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Over the weekend, Northern Illinois upset Notre Dame, in South Bend, 16-14. The Irish, coming off a major win the previous week over Texas A&M, were 28 ½ point favorites heading into the contest. Northern Illinois had never beaten a top ten opponent ever.

This result is a lot of things. It’s heartwarming, as NIU head coach and alum Thomas Hammock couldn’t contain his emotions after the massive upset. It’s a critical reminder that for all the recruiting stars and massive financial advantages, you still have to actually play the football game.

And to me…it’s also very very funny.

It’s funny to see some team with every historical advantage, loaded with blue-chips and charter flights and endorsement deals, drop a game to a school that has to play conference home games on Wednesdays in order to stay on TV. And in my lifetime of college football watching, nobody does this more than Notre Dame.

Notre Dame certainly doesn’t have a monopoly on funny losses from the bluest of blue blood brands (Michigan vs Appalachian State, Alabama vs Louisiana Monroe, Texas losing to Maryland twice, etc), but they do seem to have more of them than nearly anybody else. Blame that on their independent schedule, some bad hires in the 2000s, bad luck, or all of the above.

What makes a loss funny is a matter of personal taste, and I’d be open to hearing your thoughts in the comments….but I generally don’t think losing a big game is funny (with one notable exception, that I’ll get to below). A funny Notre Dame loss, to me, is more about blowing a game against a truly terrible opponent, or at least, one who isn’t nearly as wealthy or famous as Notre Dame.

For those who might need a refresher, here are just some of the very funny Notre Dame losses in recent memory.

Where does this NIU game fit on this list?

Syracuse: 24 Notre Dame: 23 (2008)

Losing to Syracuse is not automatically funny. But this team losing to that Syracuse team…very funny.

For context: Once again, Notre Dame opened the season with high expectations, beating Michigan, Purdue and Stanford to run to a 4-1 start. But by late November, the wheels had fallen off. The Irish were a middling 6-4 heading into their home finale against the Orange.

But Syracuse was even worse. That Orange team had already lost to Northwestern, Rutgers, UConn and Akron. They were a woeful 2-8, with one of those wins over a Northeastern squad that was about to shut down their program forever. They had already announced they were firing head coach Greg Robinson, and the season was already shot. Notre Dame was a 19 ½ point favorite leading into the game.

So, of course, they throw a touchdown pass with under a minute left to knock off Notre Dame. This was the first time Notre Dame had lost to an eight-loss team…ever.

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