1888 Notre Dame football
Conference	Independent
Record	1–0
Head coach	None
Captain	Edward Prudhomme
Seasons ← 1887 1889 →

1888 Midwestern college football independents records
v t e	Conf			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
Cincinnati		–		1	–	0	–	1
Notre Dame		–		1	–	0	–	0
Washington University		–		1	–	0	–	0
Michigan		–		2	–	1	–	0
Northwestern		–		2	–	1	–	0
Lake Forest		–		2	–	2	–	0
Minnesota		–		1	–	1	–	0
Indiana		–		0	–	0	–	1
Miami (OH)		–		0	–	0	–	1
Albion		–		0	–	2	–	0

The 1888 Notre Dame football team was an American football team that represented the University of Notre Dame in the 1888 college football season. The team had no coach and played only one game during the fall of 1888, a 20–0 victory over Harvard Prep School (a preparatory school in Chicago, also known as Chicago Harvard School) at South Bend, Indiana, on December 6, 1888.^[1] The win over Harvard Prep was the first victory in the history of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program. It was also the programs first blowout win, first undefeated season, and most points scored against an opposing football team. The 20–0 win was twice the number of points scored during the entire 1887 season. Although they only played a single game, Harvard Prep had declared themselves champions of Illinois after going undefeated prior to the contest with Notre Dame, and when Notre Dame defeated them, the South Bend Tribune asserted that University was "Champions of the Northwest".

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Source
December 1	Albion	Notre Dame, IN	Cancelled	^[2]^[3]
December 6	Harvard Prep School	Notre Dame, IN	W 20–0	^[4]

References

^ "Notre Dame Yearly Results (1887-1889)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on December 11, 2015. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
^ "General State News". The Indianapolis News. November 30, 1888. p. 1. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
^ "Local Items" (PDF). The Scholastic. December 1, 1888. p. 251.
^ "Notre Dame vs Harvard Prep School of chicago". The South Bend Tribune. December 7, 1888. p. 1. Retrieved May 7, 2020.

v t e Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
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Culture and lore	History Band of the Fighting Irish Irish Guard Notre Dame Box Notre Dame Leprechaun "Notre Dame, Our Mother" "Notre Dame Victory March" Play Like a Champion Today Subway Alumni T formation Tall Grass Game 1946 "Game of the Century" 1966 "Game of the Century" Catholics vs. Convicts 30 for 30 film 1993 "Game of the Century" Bush Push Navy ends the drought 2020 ACC Championship Game The Spirit of Notre Dame Knute Rockne, All American Notre Dame Football on NBC Rudy
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks Four Horsemen NFL draftees Statistical leaders Team captains
Seasons	1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold