The 2016 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

in the

2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on August 26, 2016 and ended on Dec ...

. The team was coached by Brian Kelly and played its home games at

Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana, the home field of the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team. It was built in 1930 under the guidance of Knute Rockne, regarded as one of the greatest co ...

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 United S ...

. They competed as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

. They finished the season 4–8, Notre Dame's worst record since 2007. Despite the disappointing season, athletic director Jack Swarbrick found the 2016 Irish to be a remarkable bunch, citing the team's "enthusiasm" and "willingness to practice".

Before the season

Previous season

The 2015 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team finished the regular season with a 10–2 record. They lost to the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree ...

44–28 in the

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been playe ...

2016 NFL draft

The following former Notre Dame players were selected in the

2016 NFL Draft The 2016 NFL Draft was the 81st annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park in Chicago. The draft beg ...

Transfers out / departures

Notre Dame lost FS Max Redfield and CB Devin Butler in the offseason for violating team policies.

Coaching changes

Brian VanGorder Brian VanGorder (born April 17, 1959) is an American football coach and former player. He was the defensive coordinator at Bowling Green State University, a position he assumed in 2019. Prior to that, he was defensive coordinator at the Universit ...

was relieved of his duties as defensive coordinator. Defensive Analyst

Greg Hudson Gregory William Hudson (born February 4, 1967) is an American college football coach and former player. He is a former defensive coordinator for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team. He has also served as a defensive assistant at Minnesota ...

took over as the Irish's Defensive Coordinator. Kelly said, "I have the utmost respect for Brian as both a person and football coach, but our defense simply isn't where it should be and I believe this change is necessary for the best interest of our program and our student-athletes.

Recruiting class

Brian Kelly and the Notre Dame coaching staff accepted 23 commitments for the 2016 recruiting cycle, including two 5-stars: Daelin Hayes and Tommy Kraemer. The class included student-athletes from 11 different states, and one Canadian province.

Personnel

Coaching staff

Roster

Schedule

Game summaries

Texas

Nevada

Michigan State

Duke

Syracuse

NC State

The Notre Dame vs NC State game was played during

Hurricane Matthew Hurricane Matthew was an extremely powerful Atlantic hurricane which caused catastrophic damage and a humanitarian crisis in Haiti, as well as widespread devastation in the southeastern United States. The deadliest Atlantic hurricane sinc ...

where the two teams combined for only 311 total yards. The only touchdown of the game was scored by NC State on a blocked punt leading NC State to win it 10–3.

Stanford

Miami (FL)

Navy

Army

Virginia Tech

USC

Rankings

References

{{Notre Dame Fighting Irish football navbox Notre Dame Notre Dame Fighting Irish football seasons

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the intercollegiate football team representing the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, north of the city of South Bend, Indiana. The team plays its home games at the campus' Notre Dame ...