The 1913 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team was an American football team that represented the University of Notre Dame as an independent during the 1913 college football season. In their first year under head coach Jesse Harper, the Irish compiled a perfect 7–0 record and outscored opponents by a total of 268 to 41. It was Notre Dame's third consecutive undefeated season.

Harper in 1913 began Notre Dame's practice of scheduling games against elite intersectional opponents. The season included the first game in the Army–Notre Dame football rivalry (a 35–13 Notre Dame victory) and victories over Penn State and Texas. Some contend that Notre Dame's upset victory over Army in 1913 marks "the true 'birth' of Notre Dame's football program."

Key players included quarterback Gus Dorais, end and team captain Knute Rockne, fullback Ray Eichenlaub, and guard Freeman Fitzgerald. Dorais, Rockne, and Eichenlaub all won consensus first-team honors on the 1913 All-Western college football team.

The team played its home games at Cartier Field in Notre Dame, Indiana.

Schedule

Game summaries Week 4: at Army On November 1, Notre Dame upset Army, 35–13, on The Plain at West Point. Led by quarterback Gus Dorais and future head coach Knute Rockne at end, Notre Dame attacked the Cadets with an offense that featured both a powerful running game and long and accurate downfield forward passes from Dorais to Rockne.

This game has often been miscredited as the invention of the forward pass. Prior to this contest, receivers would come to a full stop and wait on the ball to come to them, but in this contest, Dorais threw to Rockne in stride, changing the forward pass from a seldom-used play into the dominant ball-moving strategy that it is today.

Personnel Players Alvin Berger, halfback Alfred Bergman, halfback William J. Cook, guard/tackle Gus Dorais, quarterback Ed Duggan, fullback Ray Eichenlaub, fullback Mal Elward, end Albert G. Feeney, center Charles T. Finegan, halfback Freeman Fitzgerald, guard Fred Gushurst, end Keith K. "Deac" Jones, tackle Emmett Keefe, guard Albert V. King, guard Arthur B. Larkin, halfback Ralph G. Lathrop, tackle Joseph S. Pliska, halfback Knute Rockne, end and captain

Coaching staff Head coach - Jesse Harper

References