1950 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

The 1950 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame during the 1950 college football season. The Irish, coached by Frank Leahy during his eighth year at Notre Dame, ended the season with 4 wins, 4 losses, and one tie. Though they were ranked #1 in the preseason AP Poll^[1] and were the defending National Champions, the 1950 team– without Heisman Trophy-winner Leon Hart, who had graduated in the spring and was drafted by the NFL's Detroit Lions with the first overall pick– only achieved a .500 record for the season.

1950 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Conference	Independent
Record	4–4–1
Head coach	Frank Leahy (8th season)
Captain	Jerry Groom
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium
Seasons ← 1949 1951 →

1950 Midwestern college football independents records

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Valparaiso			–					9	–	1	–	0
No. 8 Michigan State			–					8	–	1	–	0
Xavier			–					8	–	1	–	0
John Carroll			–					8	–	2	–	0
Baldwin–Wallace			–					5	–	2	–	1
Michigan Tech			–					4	–	2	–	1
Marquette			–					5	–	3	–	1
Wabash			–					4	–	2	–	3
Butler			–					4	–	4	–	1
Notre Dame			–					4	–	4	–	1
Toledo			–					4	–	5	–	0
Bowling Green			–					3	–	4	–	2
Dayton			–					4	–	6	–	0
Youngstown			–					3	–	5	–	0
Ball State			–					2	–	4	–	1
Washington University			–					2	–	7	–	0
Wayne			–					2	–	7	–	0
Indiana State			–					1	–	7	–	1
Rose Poly			–					0	–	8	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 30	No. 20 North Carolina	No. 1	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	W 14–7	56,430	[2]
October 7	Purdue	No. 1	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	L 14–28	56,746
October 14	at Tulane	No. 10	Tulane Stadium New Orleans, LA	W 13–9	73,159	[3]
October 21	at Indiana	No. 11	Memorial Stadium Bloomington, IN	L 7–20	34,100
October 28	No. 15 Michigan State		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	L 33–36	57,866	[4]
November 4	vs. Navy		Municipal Stadium Cleveland, OH (rivalry)	W 19–10	71,074	[5]
November 11	Pittsburgh		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	W 18–7	56,966	[6]
November 18	at Iowa		Iowa Stadium Iowa City, IA	T 14–14	52,863
December 2	at USC		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)	L 7–9	70,177
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[7]

Team players drafted into the NFL

The following players were drafted into professional football following the season:

• Bob Williams was the 2nd pick in the first round.