1956 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

The 1956 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame as an independent during the 1956 college football season. Led by third-year head coach Terry Brennan, the Fighting Irish compiled a record of 2–8.

1956 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Conference	Independent
Record	2–8
Head coach	Terry Brennan (3rd season)
Captain	Jim Morse
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium
Seasons ← 1955 1957 →

1956 NCAA University Division independents football records

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 6 Miami (FL)			–					8	–	1	–	1
No. 16 Navy			–					6	–	1	–	2
No. 8 Syracuse			–					7	–	2	–	0
Air Force			–					6	–	2	–	1
Penn State			–					6	–	2	–	1
No. 13 Pittsburgh			–					7	–	3	–	1
Pacific (CA)			–					6	–	3	–	1
Army			–					5	–	3	–	1
Holy Cross			–					5	–	3	–	1
Villanova			–					5	–	4	–	0
Boston College			–					5	–	4	–	0
Florida State			–					5	–	4	–	1
Cincinnati			–					4	–	5	–	0
Colgate			–					4	–	5	–	0
Dayton			–					4	–	6	–	0
Drake			–					3	–	6	–	0
San Jose State			–					2	–	7	–	1
Texas Tech			–					2	–	7	–	1
Notre Dame			–					2	–	8	–	0
Boston University			–					1	–	5	–	2
Marquette			–					0	–	9	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

Paul Hornung carried the ball 94 times his senior year for 420 yards for an average of 4.5 yards per try. He completed 59 of 111 passes for a total offensive figure of 1,337 yards. He is the only Heisman Trophy winner to have played on a losing team.^[1]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 22	at SMU	No. 3	Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX	L 13–19	61,000	[2]
October 6	Indiana	No. 17	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	W 20–6	58,372	[3]
October 13	Purdue	No. 18	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	L 14–28	58,778
October 20	No. 2 Michigan State		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	L 14–47	59,378
October 27	No. 2 Oklahoma		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	L 0–40	60,128
November 3	at Navy		Memorial Stadium Baltimore, MD (rivalry)	L 7–33	57,773
November 10	at No. 20 Pittsburgh		Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)	L 13–26	58,697
November 17	North Carolina		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	W 21–14	56,793	[4]
November 24	at No. 3 Iowa		Iowa Stadium Iowa City, IA	L 8–48	56,632
December 1	at No. 17 USC		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)	L 20–28	64,538
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Awards and honors

Paul Hornung, Heisman Trophy^[5]

Team players drafted into the NFL

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

Player	Position	Round	Pick	Franchise

^[6]