The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have kicked off a game in primetime exactly 50 times in the last 20 years. Have they shined under the lights or wilted from the attention of a national audience?
If you’ve been a fan of the program since the Bob Davie era, you probably won’t be surprised by the answer.
The Irish are 153-96 (.614) in all games since 1998, but 24-26 (.480) in games that kickoff after 8 p.m. Eastern, which is Nielsen’s definition of primetime.
So the initial answer is: Yes, the Irish have underperformed relative to the overall record in games that kickoff during primetime.