Barns Brews & Back Roads

Combining two of my favorite things: Travel & Football!

Join me on a fun trip to watch football in the “Cathedral of College Football” – The Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. Quick history: my first trip to Notre Dame was my junior year in high school for a college visit with my mom. I fell in LOVE❤️🍀with Notre Dame. We went the week of the Fisher Regatta – which is an annual tradition where students race homemade rafts on St. Mary’s Lake. The campus was full of activity and somewhere I have a picture of a group of students dressed as Vikings marching their cardboard and Styrofoam “longship” around the campus. Okay enough “me” history, and we’ll skip the “why didn’t you go there?”😔

In the last two blogs I forgot to use movie quotes as headlines, but since there’s so many football movies………

“You had me at hello…” Dorothy – Jerry Maguire

From the Golden Dome on the main building which was built in 1879 to the Hesburgh Library with its world famous “The Word of Life” mural (aka “Touchdown Jesus”) and the stunning Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Notre Dame is a spectacular campus filled with historic Indiana limestone buildings. Not that Indiana limestone buildings are unique to Notre Dame, most college campuses in Indiana have them, but for some reason Notre Dame captured my heart. Not that it matters, but I should mention that I’m not Catholic. Or Irish (maybe a smidge on my maternal grandfathers side, but mostly no). I think because it’s a Catholic school that people just assume the only people who love Notre Dame are also Catholic, or Irish.

Beyond the campus, South Bend and nearby Mishawaka have a lot to offer. There’s the Studebaker National Museum (201 Chapin Street, South Bend, IN), The Potawatomi Zoo (500 S. Greenlawn Ave.
South Bend, IN). and multiple golf courses, Burke Golf Course is right off campus. There’s also the Four Winds Casino, (3000 Prairie Ave South Bend, IN and no post in Barns, Brews and Backroads would be complete without a shoutout to the nearest Indiana State Park: Potato Creek State Park, (25601 State Road 4, New Liberty, IN). Potato Creek has fishing and boating on Worster Lake, along with cabins, camping, hiking, biking and a horseman’s camp.

“Win one for the Gipper” Knute Rockne – Knute Rockne All American

Seriously, in a post about Notre Dame football you didn’t think I’d use this 1940 classic movie quote? By the way, the quote is from a movie, not Regan’s campaign speeches. The movie did star young Ronald Regan as George Gipp, the ill fated football player who died his senior year due to pneumonia and strep infection. Which lead to the famous Knute Rockne quote. But, let’s talk about Knute. After playing football and graduating Notre Dame, he became the head football coach in 1918 and led the Irish to three national championships, five undefeated seasons, and a win at the Rose Bowl in 1925. This football success lead to unprecedented growth at the University and set into history the legacy of the Fighting Irish football team. While Notre Dame is a world class University known for national research and economics, many people only know it as a “football school.”

As you approach Notre Dame stadium the north entrance is named after Knute Rockne, and all through the stadium there are banners that remind you exactly how dominate the Irish have been in football throughout history. I don’t technically have a “bucket list” but one thing I’ve always wanted to do is go to a Notre Dame football game. So let’s get into GAME DAY AT NOTRE DAME!

“A team with better character can beat a team with better talent” Dick Vermeil – Invincible

I know every college and university has football traditions. Things like running down the hill at Clemson (seems dangerous to me – to have your entire team run down a hill – but who am I ..), the Iowa wave (yes, I cry if for some reason I’m watching Iowa play… every time), and the White Out at Penn State. There’s a lot more – too many to list here, including the crazy amount of live mascots like Bevo the longhorn, Mike the tiger, Boomer and Sooner the horses that pull the schooner, UGA the bulldog and the War Eagle. I mean technically Notre Dame also has a live mascot – a leprechaun.

Anyway… Notre Dame has traditions too, starting on Friday night including the Tunnel Walk where for a small fee you can experience the walk down the iconic Notre Dame tunnel and touch the “Play Like a Champion Today” sign. The sign came from the Lou Holtz coaching years (1986-1996). Tailgating begins at 8AM Saturday morning and you have to have a valid parking pass for one of the lots. You can obtain parking passes on the Notre Dame website or through Stub Hub and Park Mobile. Parking is expensive on campus (“Show me the money!” – Jerry Maguire), but there are several locations like churches and businesses and even residences that offer parking for $20-$50 off campus. A tip from my favorite ND alum – “set your GPS to 415 St. Vincent Street, South Bend, IN. Parking on the street is allowed in this old neighborhood – work north and east from 415 St. Vincent. Watch for marked curbs that prohibit parking.”

The marching band performs at various locations on Saturday starting 2 hours before game time, including their march to the stadium from the Main Building (Golden Dome) 45 minutes before game time.

The Victory March – starts at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart two and a half hours before game time. The team walks to the stadium past the Main Building, Washington Hall and Hesburgh Library being led the by the Notre Dame Bagpipe Band.

I didn’t go to the bookstore on this trip, but trust me it’s impressive – I might have stopped by on a work trip or two. And it’s the only location where you can get “The Shirt.” Every football season a shirt design is created as “The Shirt.” Proceeds from this shirt go to The Shirt Charity Fund, which supports students who suffer from severe medical conditions and can’t afford treatment. It was started in 1990 (which would have been my first year there) and has helped countless students over the years.

“We have the rest of our lives to be mediocre, but we have the opportunity to play like gods for the next half of football.” Mox – Varsity Blues

You have made it to the game…. congrats! Oh wait, before you go in the stadium, you are required to take a picture at one of the “most instragramable places on earth” :

Touchdown Jesus and the reflecting pool.

Okay, now you can enter the stadium. Wait…. My daughter in law reminded me – go to the south side of the stadium and find the Nelson’s Catering truck. They have great food, she recommends the chicken. For those wondering why the IU grad knows their way around up here, she grew up nearby. Okay real quick explanation – if you don’t follow football religiously (ha!) – the reason the mural is known as Touchdown Jesus, is because from the south end of the stadium, looking north, you can see the Word of Life Mural and it lines up nearly perfectly with the goal post in the Home end zone and it appears Jesus is signaling a touchdown. For reference ⬇️

Welcome to the Cathedral of College Football. The stadium is fairly easy to navigate, they have auto ticket scanners and if you bring a bag make sure its clear. Our tickets were on the upper deck, so we used the ramp system and walked up – yay no stairs! There are a lot of food options from traditional football food to tacos and ribs. There’s even several self service food and drink stations – you won’t go hungry or thirsty. Since Brews is in the title of the blog – Coors Light and Miller Light were at every concession, along with High Noon’s. Of course there’s Guinness -proof I have zero Irish blood because – who can drink that??!? – and my favorite, Blue Moon.

Make sure you’re in your seat about 30 minutes before kick off, you don’t want to miss the band marching in, saying the Lords prayer with the team in the locker room and the team running out on the field.to “Notre Dame Victory March.” And my favorite part, right before kickoff the stadium is rocking to Shipping Up to Boston by Dropkick Murphy’s. If you’ve never heard that song you need to listen – it’s Celtic punk rock – yeah you just have to listen to understand it. You’re also in the sixth loudest college football stadium in America – and if the refs make a bad call you’ll experience it. Yes, they made two back to back really bad calls and the crowd is unforgiving. It’s AWESOME!

Push ups for points – in the first half you really only see the Leprechaun doing push ups – 1 for every point scored after touchdowns. However by the 3rd Quarter, there are pushups happening just about everywhere in the stands.

Okay, the picture doesn’t really show it very well, but trust me there are kids, babies, co-eds, all doing “push ups.” Look for the feet in the picture.

At the end of every game, win or lose, the team gathers near the endzone, locks arms and sways while singing Notre Dame, Our Mother – the whole stadium joins the singing. This tradition started in 1931 after the shocking death of Knute Rockne in a plane crash.

Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory… lasts forever. Shane Falco – The Replacements

Football is by far my favorite sport. College football though is more than just a game, it’s years and years of traditions, pageantry, pride and unmatched rivalries. If you don’t believe me, consider this: the largest football stadium in the United States is a college stadium – Michigan Stadium atUniversity of Michigan holds 107.600 people. It pains me to give the University of Michigan any compliments, so this is technically just statistics. In case you’re wondering the next 13 largest stadiums are also college stadiums. The first NFL stadium comes in at #15 – Met Life Stadium home of the New York Jets and New York Giants (holds 82,500 people). Notre Dame stadium ranks 18th. If you’ve never been to a college football game, I suggest you go – just once. And it doesn’t have to be Notre Dame, that’s just my favorite.

Why is the “pitchfork” in the title of the blog? Well, the Notre Dame game happened to overlap with the Indiana University vs University of Oregon game and we had two IU fans with us. My son was checking updates on his phone regularly, as was the lady sitting in front of me. They bonded over the Hoosiers ups and downs in between Notre Dame running away with the 2nd half. Indiana University has newfound life in its’ football program, they went from the bottom of the BIG10 in 2023-24 at 1 win, 8 losses to #2 in 2024-25 season (8-1) and are currently ranked #3 in the nation. My son begrudgingly wore a Notre Dame shirt, but insisted he had to wear his IU sweatpants to the game. Did I forget to mention that IUs one loss last year was to Notre Dame? 😁 It makes for a fun family rivalry. And IU’s symbol is a trident – not a pitchfork, however my father in law, a lifelong Purdue fan, referred to the IU symbol as the devil’s pitchfork. When the Irish had a rough start to this season I got this text:

“You Complete me…” Jerry Maguire – Jerry Maguire

Leaving South Bend wasn’t too bad either, traffic is restricted to flow one way out of the campus and we got through town fairly quickly. There is mass at the Basilica after the game, but we passed because it’s a three hour trip home. One other beautiful part of the campus behind the Basilica you’ll find the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, which is a smaller replica of the one in France. I’ve never seen it at night, but it’s spectacular in the daytime so I imagine the candles glowing at night is divine.

That concludes our trip to Notre Dame. I had so much fun – but I’m the Notre Dame fan. Everyone else enjoyed themselves, even the IU fan – probably because IU defeated Oregon, but I’ll take it! You can spend the day just at the game and tailgating, or spend the weekend in South Bend. There’s also a train from South Bend to Chicago if you want to explore the city.

If you’re wondering why I picked the quotes I did, over the heartfelt speeches from Remember the Titans or We Are Marshall or even Friday Night Lights — many of those inspirational movie moments aren’t just quotes.. they are soliloquies – and way to long for a headline!

GO IRISH!