College Football: 25 best home-field advantages in the game today
By Brad Weiss
20. University of Notre Dame: Notre Dame Stadium
In the history of college football, there is no other program as famous as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. A dominant program over the last 90 years, the Fighting Irish have won 11 national championships. While they have not won one since 1988, that does not diminish their impact on the college football landscape.
When it comes to their famous venue, it may not have ever come into existence had it not been for legendary head coach Knute Rockne. During his tenure as the head coach at Notre Dame, Rockne forced the school’s hand into building a new stadium. It opened in 1930 and is dubbed the “House That Rockne Built.”
In their first game inside their new digs, the Fighting Irish was able to beat the SMU Mustangs by the score of 20-14, setting the stage for one of the better home-field advantages in all of sports. Notre Dame would go on to win the national title in 1930, the program’s second in a row. Unfortunately, Rockne was killed in a plane crash the following March at the age of 43.
With the ability to seat over 77,000 fans, Notre Dame Stadium is not only one of the louder venues in all of college football, but one of the more iconic. Of course, there is the “Touchdown Jesus” statue outside the stadium, but the atmosphere inside the stadium is electric, mostly because the Notre Dame fan base is one that stretches across oceans.