Notre Dame and Ohio State games used to be rare occurrences

ATLANTA— Ohio State's match-up with Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff's national championship game on Monday night obviously is the biggest game ever played between the two college football giants. But all eight of the other games between them were big games, too, at least partly because they were rare occurrences. OSU and Notre Dame have played against each other five times in the last 20 years but for 59 years between 1936 and 1995 they were never on the same football field together. Notre Dame won the first two times it played Ohio State in 1935 and 1936 but OSU has won the last six games. A look at the previous eight times the Buckeyes and Fighting Irish have competed against each other: 1. Notre Dame 18, Ohio State 13 in 1935. Ohio State and Notre Dame were both undefeated when the Irish came into Ohio Stadium. The Buckeyes were up 13-0 after three quarters. But Notre Dame pulled out a win, though, with three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The last one came on a 19-yard pass from William Shakespeare to Wayne Millner with 32 seconds left in the game. 2. Notre Dame 7, Ohio State 2 in 1936. The 1935 game was referred to as the Game of the Century. But the 1936 game did not create the same enthusiasm. Notre Dame got a touchdown on a 76-yard drive in the second quarter and OSU's only points came on a safety. 3. Ohio State 45, Notre Dame 26 in 1995. OSU and Notre Dame ended a 59-year absence from each other's schedule with a game in which the Fighting Irish led by 10 points with 4 1/2 minutes left in the first half but the Buckeyes dominated the rest of the way. Eddie George ran for 207 yards. Bob Hoying threw for 272 yards and 4 touchdowns and Terry Glenn turned a short pass into an electrifying 82-yard touchdown play. 4. Ohio State 29, Notre Dame 14 in 1996. No. 4 OSU got a win over No. 5 Notre Dame in a match-up in which the Buckeyes' defense took center stage when it sacked ND quarterback Ron Powlus four times and intercepted him twice. 5. Ohio State 34, Notre Dame 20 in the Fiesta Bowl after the 2005 season. Ohio State rolled up 617 yards of total offense but it was still a 7-point game late in the fourth quarter. After the win, OSU talked about coming back to Phoenix the next year for the BCS national championship, which it did, but lost that game 41-14 to Florida. 6. Ohio State 44, Notre Dame 28 in the Fiesta Bowl after the 2015 season. Ezekial Elliott rushed for 149 yards on 27 carries in his final game as a Buckeye when OSU ended its season with wins over Michigan and Notre Dame after a surprising loss to Michigan State. 7. Ohio State 21, Notre Dame 10 in 2022. In the first game of a two-year deal, OSU won at home in a game in which standout receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba suffered a hamstring injury that did not heal the rest of the season. 8. Ohio State 17, Notre Dame 14 in 2023. Leading Ohio State's 15-play, 65-yard game-winning drive was Kyle McCord's finest moment in a Buckeyes uniform. Chip Trayanum scored the winning touchdown with one second left in the game. It took several minutes of replay review before OSU's win became official.