The First Indiana-Notre Dame Game
It is fair to assume that the Indiana-Notre Dame game, the first game of the new 12-team football playoff, will receive a fair bit of coverage. The same was not true of the initial meeting between the schools. Indiana came a’visiting on November 5, 1898, to play on Notre Dame's Bronson Hall Field.
Neither team was a football power then, though Notre Dame had upgraded its schedule under Frank Hering, the subject of yesterday's story.
Hering played two years at Chicago, coached Bucknell for one year, and then enrolled at Notre Dame in 1896, where he quarterbacked, captained, and coached the football team. He coached football for the next two years and was at the helm for the 1898 meeting.
The news going into the game focused on Notre Dame's injuries. Their quarterback and captain, Mullen, was in the infirmary, as was Eggeman, their monstrous 6' 5" 255-pound center. Eggeman cracked out of his shell by game time, but Mullen did not.
The other pre-game news concerned Indiana's scheduling a game on the Monday following their Saturday visit to South Bend. Notre Dame's limited availability required such scheduling, and at least the second game versus DePauw in Greencastle was on the way back to Bloomington.
The game does not sound like a particularly exciting contest. Indiana scored on a 40-yard first-half run and a 50-yard run in the second half, converting on one of the touchdowns, while Notre Dame's Youster also earned a touchdown. Other aims were rather short, and there were no legal forward passes. There is some disagreement about whether the Irish converted on their touchdown. Both schools say they did not, crediting Notre Dame with five points, while period newspapers indicate the Irish lost 11-6 during an era when touchdowns were worth five points.
Indiana beat DePauw 32-0 on the way home before losing to Purdue 14-0 the following weekend.
As of today, the Indiana-Notre Dame all-time series stands at 5-23-1 in favor of the Irish. It is worth noting that the 1898 Hoosier victory is their only win in South Bend in the 15 games played there. Of course, there is a first time for everything; and, sometimes, there's a second.
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