Sports

ND Season Recap

Isabella Catanzarite, Editor

February 11, 2025

Credit: Canva

If you’re a South Bend local, you might have heard of the successful season the Notre Dame football team had. Though, there is a chance that you aren’t a ND football fanatic despite living here. Well, here’s your guide to their 2024-2025 season!

The Fighting Irish kicked off their season with a 23-13 win against the Texas A&M Aggies in an away game on Aug. 31. It’s always a great feeling when the first game of the season is a win! But, tragedy struck the team when the next weekend, Sept. 7, Notre Dame lost to the Northern Illinois Huskies. This was a huge upset because Northern Illinois wasn’t even a ranked team and this should’ve been an easy win. But, it wasn’t and the Fighting Irish lost 14-16. You could safely say that the team was not the same after this loss.

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From that point on, the coaches and players locked in and used that loss as motivation. This seemed to have worked because on Sept. 14, they beat the Purdue Boilermakers 66-7 on Purdue’s turf. The first home game after the loss to Northern Illinois was against the Miami (OH) Redhawks on Sept. 21. Notre Dame avenged their last loss and won that game 28-3. The next game was at home against the Louisville Cardinals. The Fighting Irish won 31-24 on Sept. 28. Keeping up with the home game winning streak, Notre Dame also beat the Stanford Cardinals on Oct. 12 in a game of 49-7. Although that specific game ended early because of lighting being spotted nearby.

Next, the team’s first away game in over a month on Oct. 19 was against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. The Fighting Irish won 31-13. But, they were scheduled to play one of their rivals the weekend of Oct. 26. Notre Dame played the Navy Goats and won 51-14 at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Their next game was against the Florida State Seminoles on Nov. 9 at the ND stadium. The Fighting Irish won 52-3 making this the seventh win in a row. They then faced the Virginia Cavaliers on Nov. 16 at home and won 35-14. Although, this was only the beginning of this amazing season!

The Shamrock Series game followed on Nov. 23 and Notre Dame faced the Army Mules at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York. This game tradition means a lot to the Fighting Irish coaches, players, students, and fans. So, it was even better when they won 49-14! Then, the last official game of the season was upon this team. With a 10-1 wins vs. losses stat, they were ready to end the season with a bang! On Nov. 30, Notre Dame played against the Southern California Travelers and won 49-35! With that, the Fighting Irish secured their place in the college football playoffs.

The first playoff game was against the Indiana Hoosiers at ND Stadium on Dec. 20. Notre Dame successfully won their first playoff game with a score of 27-17. But, the journey to the final would be difficult and they kept that in mind at their next game. The Fighting Irish then faced the Georgia Bulldogs on Jan. 2 at Caesar’s Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. They won 23-10 and this meant that they would play Penn State next. On Jan. 9, Notre Dame played the Penn State Nittany Lions in their toughest game yet at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida. But, they pulled through in the end and beat Penn State 27-24! This meant that they had successfully advanced all the way to the College Playoffs Championship!

On Jan. 20 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, Notre Dame faced the Ohio State Buckeyes in a grueling championship game. Straight out of the gate, OSU was already making traction but Irish head coach Marcus Freeman had faith that his team would pull through in the second half. This faith was not enough and sadly, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish lost the College Playoffs Championship game by a score of 23-34. This marked the end of the ND football season. We can’t wait to see how the Irish do in the 2025-2026 season!

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About the Contributor

Isabella Catanzarite

Isabella Catanzarite is a 17-year-old junior at John Adams High School and is looking forward to her first year working with The Tower. Isabella, commonly known as Izzy to her peers, is an active member of the student body and never fails to make an impression on new students. Always willing to lend a helping hand in and out of school, she has been told that she is very energetic, welcoming, and easy to talk to. Although Isabella only has two years left of high school, she has some plans for the future and is ready to start acting on them now. She has rock-solid beliefs that she wishes to advocate for; but is unsure if this could be compatible with a future career. Regardless, she is excited to finish off high school with a lasting impression and start working towards her dream life. Isabella tries very hard to be a “reader,” but struggles with reading more than one book over the course of two months. So, it would be untrue if she categorized herself as an avid reader. She is thinking about possibly pursuing a career in journalism and believes that this will help her to begin that journey. One of the most important factors in Isabella's life is tennis. She loves the sport and is also thinking about possibly pursuing a career in it. Isabella made the John Adams women's team both her freshman and sophomore year and has moved her way up the ladder to varsity. In addition to playing for the school team, she is a manager for the boys tennis team. Another extracurricular that Isabella is a prominent member of is show choir. This year, she is president of the show choir and she is very proud of her title. Finally, Isabella is someone who will always step up to the plate. No matter the difficulties, she will pull through and eat, leaving no crumbs. Isabella is a very hopeful person and believes that things will get better, even if she can’t make a decision to save her life. She often looks at the world through rose-colored glasses and tries to find the beauty in everything. Isabella is beyond excited to be joining The Tower and is really looking forward to growing her writing skills.