1938 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

The 1938 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1938 college football season.

1938 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
National champion (Dickinson), not claimed
Conference	Independent
Ranking
AP	No. 5
Record	8–1
Head coach	Elmer Layden (5th season)
Captain	Jim McGoldrick
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium
Seasons ← 1937 1939 →

1938 Midwestern college football independents records

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 5 Notre Dame			–					8	–	1	–	0
Central Michigan			–					7	–	1	–	0
Michigan State Normal			–					6	–	1	–	1
Xavier			–					7	–	2	–	0
Akron			–					6	–	3	–	0
Michigan State			–					6	–	3	–	0
Detroit Tech			–					6	–	3	–	0
Detroit			–					6	–	4	–	0
Western State Teachers (MI)			–					4	–	3	–	0
Cincinnati			–					4	–	5	–	0
Wayne			–					2	–	6	–	0
DePaul			–					2	–	7	–	0
Marquette			–					1	–	7	–	0
Rankings from AP poll

Notre Dame was awarded the Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy for the season, emblematic of their selection as national champions by the Dickinson System.^[1] The Irish topped the AP Poll until their loss to USC in their last game of the season.

Notre Dame does not claim a national championship for this season.^[2]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
October 1	Kansas		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	W 52–0	25,615
October 8	at Georgia Tech		Grant Field Atlanta, GA (rivalry)	W 14–6	26,533	[3]
October 15	Illinois		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	W 14–6	29,142
October 22	No. 13 Carnegie Tech	No. 5	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	W 7–0	25,934
October 29	vs. Army	No. 7	Yankee Stadium Bronx, NY (rivalry)	W 19–7	76,338
November 5	vs. Navy	No. 4	Municipal Stadium Baltimore, MD (rivalry)	W 15–0	58,271
November 12	No. 12 Minnesota	No. 2	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	W 19–0	55,245
November 19	at No. 16 Northwestern	No. 1	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL (rivalry)	W 9–7	46,348
December 3	at No. 8 USC	No. 1	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)	L 0–13	97,146
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[4]

References

1. Written at Chicago. "Irish Are Rated at Top by Dickinson". Fort Worth Star. Fort Worth. Associated Press. December 6, 1938. Retrieved August 17, 2022. Notre Dame will receive the Knute Rockne trophy
2. Bertsch, Michael; Masters, Chris; Torbin, Leigh (2014). Notre Dame Football 2014 Media Guide. University of Notre Dame. pp. 2, 157. Archived from the original on April 30, 2015. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
3. "Irish turn back Georgia Tech in 14–6 battle". Chicago Tribune. October 9, 1938. Retrieved September 30, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "1938 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Schedule and Results | College Football at Sports-Reference.com". sports-reference.com. Retrieved October 8, 2015.